HN 

79, 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ALABAMA 



A STUDY 



SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND AGENCIES 

OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA 
AS RELATED TO ITS WAR ACTIVITIES 



MADE AT THE REQUEST OF 
GOVERNOR CHARLES HENDERSON 




By, 
HASTINGS H. HART, LL.D. 

RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 
NEW YORK CITY 



MONTGOMERY. ALABAMA 



K~Jt 




Glass HHl3 

Book , /U-H3 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ALABAMA 
A STUDY 

OF THE 

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND AGENCIES 

OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA 
AS RELATED TO ITS WAR ACTIVITIES 



MADE AT THE REQUEST OF 
GOVERNOR CHARLES HENDERSON 




By 
HASTINGS H: HART, LL.D. 

RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 
NEW YORK CITY 



MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 
DECEMBER, 1 9 18 



^ 



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y%^ 



SOCIAL STUDIES OF STATES 

By Hastings II. Hart 

A Suggested Program Cor the Executive State Council of De- 
fense of West Virginia 

A Social Welfare Program for the State of Florida 

The War Program of the State of South Carolina 

Soeial Problems of Alabama 

The Soeial Progress of .Mississippi (in preparation) 



10 cents each 



Russell Sage Foundation 
130 East 2-Jn.l Street. New York (it.v 



6161 P 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Foreword : Page 

War Work and Social Work 5 

Handicap of State Institutions 5 

The State Debt 6 

True and Assessed Valuation 7 

The Convict System 8 

Education 9 

To the People of Alabama 10 

Remedies for Financial Stringency 12 

Willingness of the People 14 

Alabama's Wark Work 10 

The State Council of Defense 10 

The Woman's Division of the Council of Defense 19 

The State War Historian .21 

Alabama's Good Start 21 

Deficient Support of State Institutions 22 

Two Notable Hospitals for Insane ..25 

Care of the Confederate Veterans 29 

Reformatories for Boys and Girls 29-30 

Reform School for Negroes 31 

Public Health and Sanitation .........32 

Public Education ...34 

The Public School System .37 

The Convict System of Alabama : 

Classes of Convicts 43 

Mortality of Convicts 40 

Length of Prison Sentences... 48 

Personal Earnings of Prisoners 50 

A Moral Hazard „ 51 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Turpentine Camps 52 

The State Cotton Mill 53 

Farming as a Convict Industry __ 56 

Work on Public Roads 57 

'Prisoners a Profitable Asset _ 60 

Reformatory Measures Lacking... :•. ...60 

A Voice from the Grave ...j.«.. v . .....%..- ci 

The Board of Inspectors of Convicts ..62 

The Parole System 67 

A Prison Program 69 

State Board of Public Welfare : 

Child Caring Institutions and Agencies... 71 

The Child Welfare Survey by the National Child Labor Committee 77 



4 Social Problems of Alabama 

Page 

The Labor Problem in Alabama... 80 

Social Work of Corporations: 

The Tennessee Coal and Iron Company 81 

The West Point Manufacturing Company 86 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

Page 

1. Increased Assessments, in Compliance with the State Revenue Code, 

to Provide Adequate State Income 13 

2. Increased Appropriations: 

For Current Expenses of Charitable and Correctional Institu- 
tions 23-31 

For State Educational Institutions 36 

For Public Schools : 41 

For State Board of Health 32 

For Compensation of State Employees 

3. A State Social Welfare Program and a State Board of Public Wel- 

fare 11 

4. Adoption of Child Welfare Measures Recommended in the Recent 

Child Welfare Survey 77 

5. A Drive for $25,000 for Alabama Children's Aid Society 10 

6. A New Prison Program 67 

7. Colonies for Feeble-Minded and Epileptics 10 

8. Additional Provision for Juvenile Delinquents: 

Equipment for the Girls' Training School 10 

Cottages for the State Industrial School 10 

A Training School for Negro Girls Similar to the Reform School 
for Negro Boys 10 

9. Modern Equipment and Extinguishment of Fire Risk at the Ala- 

bama Bryce Hospital 10 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF ALABAMA 



FOREWORD 

Hon. Charles Henderson, 
Governor of Alabama. 

Dear Sir: — In accordance with your invitation of June 
21, 1918, 1 have made as careful and thorough a study as the 
limited time at my disposal would permit of the social 
agencies and institutions of the State of Alabama, with 
special reference to the increase of the efficiency of the 
State in meeting the problems of the future, especially those 
which have been created by the European war. 

This report brings to view the following points : 

1. The war work of the State is closely and necessarily 
involved with its social work. We must improve public 
health to furnish healthy soldiers and sailors ; improve edu- 
cational methods to furnish intelligent soldiers and capable 
workers ; adequate insane asylums, tuberculosis sanitariums 
and hospitals to care for infirm soldiers; well organized 
orphan asylums, child welfare societies and juvenile courts 
to care for the children of soldiers; reformatory prison 
methods to increase the supply of efficient workers which 
has been diminished by the war; general improvement of 
social work and social institutions to meet the new social 
conditions, moral, educational, industrial and political, which 
are being created by the war. 

2. Most of the social agencies maintained or promoted by 
the State are rightly organized and doing good work. Some 
essential agencies are lacking, e. g., provision for feeble- 
minded children, epileptics, and delinquent negro girls. 

3. All of the State social agencies except the State Board 
of Inspectors of Convicts are hampered and restricted by 
lack of sufficient appropriations and delay in payment, so 
that their efficiency is impaired and their development is 
impeded, and in some cases faithful servants of the State 
as well as its unfortunate wards suffer serious hardship. 



6 Social Problems of Alabama 

The State Debt 

4. These financial lacks are ascribed to the State bonded 

debt, as refunded in 1880, of $9,057,000 

The constitutional temporary loan 300,000 

Outstanding warrants 1,589,000 



Total $10,946,000 

and the limitation of State ad valorem taxes to 6 14 mills, 
under which they produce only about $4,000,000 per year. 

5. With our experience in the European war has come 
a new social vision, and the people think in hundreds of 
thousands, where they used to think in tens of thousands; 
therefore now is the time to remedy these unfortunate con- 
ditions. 

6. The State debt is not a serious load upon the resources 
of Alabama. 

(a) In 1880 the true value of the taxable property of the 
State, as estimated by the United States Bureau of the 
Census was $428,000,000 or $339 per capita. In 1918 it is 
doubtless $3,000,000,000 or $1,250 per capita. 

(b) In 1880 the State debt amounted to $7.37 per capita, 
which was 2.2 per cent of the value of all taxable property ; 
in 1918 it is $4.56 per capita, which is only four-tenths of 
one per cent, or one-fifth as much in proportion to the 
State's wealth as the debt of 1880. 

(c) The national debt is now approximately sixteen bil- 
lions, or $160 per inhabitant (12 per cent of the estimated 
wealth of the Nation) ; so that each inhabitant of Alabama 
owes 30 times' as much on account of the National Govern- 
ment as he owes on account of Alabama. 

(d) Nine states have a larger state debt per capita than 
Alabama, ranging from $6.60 per inhabitant in Tennessee 
to $23.50 in Massachusetts. The combined State, county, 
city and school bonded indebtedness of Alabama is much 
below that of other progressive states. The average for the 
United States in 1913 was $39.38 per inhabitant, while for 
Alabama it was $19.32. 



Social Problems of Alabama 



Alabama's Ability 

7. Alabama is abundantly able to pay her way. 

(a) Taxation in the State is not excessive. The U. S. 
Census Bureau, in 1915, reported the "governmental costs" 
of the states as averaging $5.03 per capita, ranging from 
$12.17 in California to $1.87 in South Carolina. Alabama 
stood thirty-seventh at $3.29. 

(b) The assessed valuation is much below the limit pro- 
vided by law. The Revenue Code, Section 9, provides that 
property shall be assessed at "60 per cent of its fair and 
reasonable cash value ;" but it will be seen from the follow- 
ing statement that this provision has been generally ignored. 

TRUE AND ASSESSED VALUATION 



Estimated True 

Value of all 

Taxable Property 

By U. S. Census 

Bureau 



Same 
per 
Inhabi- 
tant 



Assessed Value 

of All Taxable 

Property 



Assessed 
Valuat'n 

Wbatper 
Cent of 
True 
Value 



1880 

1S90 
1900 
1910 
1912 
1918 



f 42S.000.000 
022.800.000 
774.700.000 

1,825.000,000 

2.127.000.000 
'3,000.000.000 



.$ 339 
411 
424 
854 
912 

1.250 



$122,867,000 
258,980.000 
420.000,000 
420.000.000 
656.S07.000 
670.17S.000 



28% 

42 

54 

23 

31 

22 



*My estimate, based on the increase from 1900 to 1912. 

It will be seen that the present assessed valuation is only 
22 per cent, instead of 60 per cent of the true valuation. 

(c) The ability of Alabama has been demonstrated by its 
payment of United States taxes as follows : 

1914 $ 463,000 

1916 608,000 

1917 , 1,304,000 

1918 19, 132,000 

1919 (estimated) 30,000,000 

The total internal revenue taxes in the United States 
during the past year amounted to $3,694,000,000, of which 
Alabama paid one-half of one per cent. The government 



8 Social Problems of Alabama 

will collect probably $6,000,000,000 during the coming year 
and, if Alabama pays at the same rate as last year, her 
share will be about $30,000,000, which will be nearly eight 
times as much as the present State tax. If Alabama could 
cheerfully meet the increase of taxes for Uncle Sam sixty 
fold, in four years, she can certainly make some increase 
for her own people now that the national taxes are to be 
reduced. 

The ability of the State is indicated also by the subscrip- 
tion of more than $30,000,000 as Alabama's share of the 
Fourth Liberty Loan, enough to pay the State debt three 
times over. 

An Unequal Burden 

8. The financial difficulties of the State are being met, not 
by distributing the burden equitably, but by throwing it 
upon a small number of people, including those least able 
to bear it. Lack of revenue has forbidden the increase of 
salaries of State officers and employees, who have been 
compelled to meet the high cost of living without the in- 
creased pay which is enjoyed by their neighbors. Most of 
the employees of the State are today working for less pay 
than they could secure from outside employers. The em- 
ployees and the inmates of the State institutions — old sol- 
diers, insane patients, and children in State institutions are 
living in old, worn-out and insanitary buildings, which 
ought to be repaired or replaced, but it can not be done, for 
lack of money. Students in the State institutions are suf- 
fering for lack of proper recitation rooms, school apparatus 
and libraries, and competent teachers are either accepting 
appointments elsewhere, or are staying at a sacrifice. 

If her most worthless and hopeless citizens could do that 
much for the State, what might her law-abiding and indus- 
trious people do? The report will show that about 3,000 
State convicts contributed during the past year no less than 
$775,000 toward the expenses of the State over and above 
the cost of maintaining the prison system, and that the con- 
victs have responded patriotically to the appeal of the Gov- 
ernment for increased production. 



Social Problems of Alabama 9 

9. It will appear also that the plan which you have adopted 
of granting short paroles to allow well behaved prisoners to 
visit sick relatives, attend funerals, or assist in harvesting 
crops, has met with surprising success. Out of 587 pris- 
oners thus temporarily released all but three returned to 
prison according to the conditions of the parole. 

The report will show that the State has failed to provide 
the reformatory agencies and methods which now prevail 
in many of the states of the Union. The patriotic disposi- 
tion of the prisoners, their response to the parole system, 
and their magnificent contributions to the finances of the 
State would seem to give them just title to the best effort 
of the State for their rehabilitation. Every prisoner genu- 
inely reformed becomes a valuable addition to the industrial 
forces of the State. 

10. The report brings out a marked improvement in the 
public school system of the State, together with the indis- 
pensable need of further improvement — especially in the 
matters of compulsory school education and improvement 
of the negro schools. 

11. The report will show an encouraging development of 
juvenile courts, juvenile reformatories, and orphanages, but 
will indicate the necessity for the expansion of the juvenile 
court, the probation system, and the parole system. It will 
indicate also the urgent need for development of the Ala- 
bama Children's Aid Society, which is as yet far behind 
similar societies of other Southern States, like Kentucky, 
Florida, and Mississippi. 

12. The report displays the extraordinary development 
by the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company of social work — 
housing, health work and sanitation — for their employees, 
and the undertaking of similar work on a smaller scale by 
other industrial corporations. This work is especially no- 
table for the efforts which are being made to maintain a 
democratic spirit. 



10 Social Problems of Alabama 

I desire to say through you, as Governor, 

To the People of Alabama 

There is need of the same kind of devotion and self-sacri- 
fice which you have been putting into the European war. 

You have bought fifty millions of Liberty Bonds and War 
Savings Stamps and have paid twenty-five millions in taxes 
to train, clothe, arm, feed and pay our soldiers and to carry 
them to France. What will you do to train and feed and 
pay the doctors, nurses, teachers and caretakers who are 
fighting here in Alabama, in your institutions and public 
schools, to protect you from the evils of vice, crime, disease 
and pauperism? 

You have gone without wheat bread, sugar and butter to 
feed our Allies in Europe and you have freely given your 
money by the hundreds of thousands, in one drive after 
another, to the Red Cross for the hungry people of Belgium, 
Serbia and Armenia and for our sick and wounded soldiers. 
You have sent Y. M. C. A. secretaries and other workers 
by the thousand, to provide good influences and recreation 
for our soldiers here and in Europe. That is splendid ! Now 
will you make a drive to raise $25,000 a year for the Ala- 
bama Children's Aid Society so that it may care for 1,000 
neglected children? Will you find a way to put into the 
State treasury the money to buy material so that the boys 
at the State Industrial School may build the new cottages 
which are imperatively needed there and may repair the 
dangerous buildings in which they now live ? Will you find 
the means to fit up the new cottages at the Girls' Training 
School and to repair the insanitary buildings and stop the 
terrible fire risk at the State Hospital for the Insane; and 
to provide separate wards for the cases of tuberculosis and 
pellagra at the State Hospitals ? 

Will you give the faithful and underpaid workers in those 
institutions such help that they need not to send away suf- 
fering and needy patients, who ought to stay, because they 
have not the money to feed and clothe them ? There are at 
least 3,000 feeble-minded and 1,000 epileptics in the State 
who are uncared for and are in urgent need of care. They 
suffer sadly; many become paupers or criminals; many 



Social Problems of Alabama 11 

die before their time for want of care ; many, because of neg- 
lect, become parents of children afflicted like themselves. 
These wretched, unhappy people can be made happy and 
useful in such institutions as exist in most of the states ; for 
example, Virginia and North Carolina. 

In other words, will you do for your own people, in Ala- 
bama what you have done so freely and cheerfully for those 
in foreign countries? 

But, more than that ! Will you give to Alabama the place 
that belongs to her in the forefront of the American nation ? 
When the roll is called in either house of the National Con- 
gress or in any great national convention, the first name is 
"The Senator" or "The Gentleman," or "The Delegate from 
Alabama." And you have sent to those great bodies some 
members who were worthy to head any national roll. When 
you open any page of a volume of national statistics, the 
first name you see is Alabama; and you find her third in 
the production of iron and ore ; fourth, in the production of 
pig iron ; sixth, in the production of coal, and ninth, in the 
production of cotton. 

But when you come to the record of her social develop- 
ment, you find Alabama second or third in the profit derived 
from the labor of her convicts, but far down the list in her 
efforts for their reformation; high in illiteracy, but low in 
public school education; high in the quality of care for the 
insane, but absolutely without care for the feeble-minded 
who are even more in need of it; high in her receipts of 
donations from northern states for the support of educa- 
tional institutions for the negroes, but low in appropriations 
for the State University; high in protection of the health 
of hogs and cattle, but low in protection of the health of the 
people. 

Will you therefore now provide the means to establish a 
State board of public welfare, chosen from your foremost 
and wisest citizens to devise an adequate State program of 
social welfare ; and will you then provide the means to exe- 
cute that program, at whatever sacrifice may be necessary 
in order that Alabama may occupy the same pre-eminence 
in social progress which she has already attained in her 
material development? 



12 Social Problems of Alabama 

Remedies For the Present Situation 

I have already indicated that the present humiliating and 
mortifying situation is unnecessary. I shall endeavor to 
suggest a practical and efficient remedy. 

The most direct and easy method of immediate relief and 
the one which would be adopted by any solvent corporation 
or business man who got into similar difficulties is that 
which you yourself suggested in your inaugural message, in 
1915; namely, the issue of bonds sufficient to clear up the 
floating debt and to enable the State to adopt the pay-as- 
you-go principle. This plan, however, was rejected by the 
people at the polls and I suppose that it might be rejected 
again. I venture, however, to hazard the prediction that, 
within ten years the people of Alabama will vote, not three 
millions, but at least twenty-five millions of bonds, for good 
roads and other public improvements and will count it a 
wise investment. 

The bonding plan having been rejected by the people and 
no other means of relief being in sight, you were constrained 
to adopt the heroic method of cutting all expenditures to the 
lowest possible figure and seeking to extinguish the floating 
debt by rigid and even painful economies. In this way you 
reduced the indebtedness of the State during the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 1917, by the amount of $141,000 and, 
in the year ending September 30, 1918, by the sum of $647,- 
.563 ; so that it now stands at $10,946,137. 

This is a gratifying result and it shows what can be ac- 
complished by rigid and resolute economy ; but it has been 
possible to accomplish it, as we have seen, only by inflicting 
hardship and even injustice upon a small number of citizens, 
for the benefit of the whole. 

The Present System Can Not Endure 

The same method can not be pursued for the next four 
years without even more serious detriment to the social 
interests of the State, because it will inevitably impair the 
quality and lower the standards of the work of the best 
State institutions, undoing what has been accomplished by 
many years of hard work. 



Social Problems of Alabama 13 

A Practical Remedy 

There is another and better remedy for the present situa- 
tion which can be applied by the joint action of the gover- 
nor and the legislature, and which will speedily pay off the 
floating debt of the State and will afford means for the relief 
of the State employees and the State institutions. This 
method does not require an amendment to the Constitution 
and it is in strict accord both with the letter and the spirit 
of the present law. 

The Revenue Code of Alabama, Section 9, provides that 
"All taxable property within this State shall be assessed for 
the purpose of taxation at 60 per cent of its fair and reason- 
able cash value." It is a notorious fact, undisputed, so far 
as I can learn, that the assessments, as they now stand, are 
far below 60 per cent of the "fair and reasonable cash 
value." This is confirmed by the estimates of the United 
States Census Bureau, which as I have stated, indicate that 
the present assessments are less than 25 per cent of the 
true value of taxable property instead of 60 per cent. 

My suggestion is that the legislature shall pass such laws 
and establish such additional agencies and regulations as 
may be necessary to give effect to the legislation already 
existing, providing suitable penalties for assessors who 
shall fail to comply with the law and strengthening the 
hands of the State and county boards of equalization so as 
to insure legal and equitable assessment throughout the 
State, and authorizing the governor and the courts to inter- 
vene if necessary. 

The assessed valuation of taxable property is $670,178,- 
000 ; the true value was estimated by the U. S. Census Com- 
missioner in 1900 at $774,700,000 and in 1912 at $2,127,- 
000,000. If the same rate of increase has continued the pres- 
ent true value must be in excess of $3,000,000,000 ; but if we 
discount the amount to $2,500,000,000, 60 per cent of that 
amount would be $1,500,000,000 which would be more than 
double the present assessment. 

The Census Bureau estimated the true value of all taxable 
property in the State in 1912 at $2,127,000,000. If we 
were to accept that figure and assume that there has been 



14 Social Problems of Alabama 

no increase in the past six years we should still have a 60 
per cent valuation of $1,276,000,000 instead of $670,000,000. 
If my suggestion should be adopted it would increase the 
revenues of the State at least $2,000,000 per year. It would 
make it possible to pay off the floating indebtedness within 
the next four years; to make a just increase in the com- 
pensation of State officers and employees, so as to meet the 
increased cost of living; to provide the increased facilities 
which have become indispensable in the educational and 
philanthropic institutions of the State; to give the State 
board of health a revenue comparable with that of other 
progressive states and to establish adequate institutions for 
the feeble-minded, a reformatory for negro girls and a 
sanitarium for tuberculous patients of like quality and ef- 
ficiency with the sanitarium for State convicts at We- 
tumpka. 

Willingness of the People 

This suggestion will be met by the statement that the 
citizens of Alabama are firmly opposed to any increase of 
taxation and that to vote for such legislation would be politi- 
cal suicide to members of the Legislature. I challenge this 
statement. The people of three-fourths of the counties of 
the State have cheerfully voted a three mill tax for improv- 
ing the public schools, and the people of the State, rich and 
poor, have poured out gifts of millions of dollars in the past 
two years to do for the soldiers and their families things 
similar to those which are proposed for the people of the 
State at large, and as we have seen, the people of Alabama 
are cheerfully paying taxes to the national government 
amounting to about seven times what they are paying for 
their own benefit. 

Every citizen, rich or poor, white or black, is vitally con- 
cerned with provision for the insane, the feeble-minded, the 
tuberculous, dependent and neglected children and public 
education, and they will meet the necessary increase in the 
cost of caring for these unfortunate people just as they are 
meeting the increased cost of living in their own families. 



Social Problems of Alabama 15 

The corporation which is the largest tax payer in the 
State and which is expending hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars to promote the health, the education and the social bet- 
terment of its own employees regards such expenditures as 
"good business" and I have good reason to believe that it 
stands ready to bear its share of this increased taxation in 
common with the other tax payers of the State. 

Surely the people of the splendid State of Alabama intend 
that their social progress in education, philanthropy and 
public education shall keep pace with their progress in 
wealth, industry, agriculture, commerce and home-building, 
and shall not be inferior to those of sister states. Surely 
they are unwilling that the municipal institutions, the 
schools and philanthropic agencies maintained by private 
organizations and corporations should be superior to those 
which are maintained by the State. 



ALABAMA'S WAR WORK 

Alabama has met the demands of the great war with one 
hundred per cent efficiency. She has furnished men, white 
and black, to her full quota. She has gone over the top in 
every drive for the sale of Liberty Bonds and for the Red 
Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Knights of Columbus and the 
other national agencies. Her churches and her women have 
responded to every call for assistance in measures of the 
care and protection of the soldiers, by training camp activi- 
ties, hostess houses, club houses, soldiers and officers and 
by extending to them the hospitality of their homes. They 
have promptly met the requests of the Government for food 
conservation, meatless and wheatless days and gasless Sun- 
days. 

The Alabama State Council of Defense 

The State Council of Defense, although it has had no 
State appropriation because the Legislature did not meet, 
has secured funds from private sources and has co-operated 
fully with the National Council of Defense in the organiza- 
tion of the State, in educational propaganda and in the 
active promotion of the various drives and other move- 
ments for the winning of the war. 

Within a month after the United States entered the Euro- 
pean war, Governor Henderson, by executive proclamation 
created the Alabama Council of Defense. The first meeting 
of the Alabama Council was held June 1, 1917. 

Alabama claims credit for being the first State to co-ordi- 
nate all war work in the Council of Defense. Every head of 
a federal agency in the State has been made a member of 
the executive committee of the council, thus giving each 
department the privilege of knowing what other agencies 
are doing and preventing duplication of efforts. . Alabama 
made this plan early in 1918, and since that time several 
other states have adopted it. 



Social Problems of Alabama 17 

This plan so impressed the Council of National Defense 
that it was sent to all state councils in the nation as a model 
method for the co-ordination of activities. 

The personnel of the executive committee which has been 
responsible for the carrying on of work of the State Council 
is made up of the following : Governor Charles Henderson, 
ex-officio ; Lloyd M. Hooper, of Selma, ex-officio ; L. M. 
Bashinsky, of Troy; Albert P. Bush, of Mobile; T. J. Crit- 
tenden, of Birmingham, Chairman of Four-Minute Men; 
J. F. Duggar, of Auburn, farm extension service; Richard 
M. Hobbie, of Montgomery, State food administrator ; Mrs. 
James F. Hooper, of Selma, chairman of woman's division ; 
Crawford Johnson, of Birmingham, chairman of War Sav- 
ings Campaign Committee; Samuel P. Kennedy, of Annis- 
ton, State fuel administrator; W. J. Leppert, of New Or- 
leans, designated representative of Red Cross ; Ray Rushton, 
of Montgomery, State director of United States Public Serv- 
ice Reserve; George B. Tarrant, of Birmingham, State di- 
rector of United States Employment Service; Dr. C. C. 
Thach, of Auburn, agricultural and mechanical colleges; 
Oscar Wells, of Birmingham, chairman Red Cross Drive; 
Walter D. Wellborn, of Montgomery, designated representa- 
tive of Liberty Loan Organization. 

The personnel of the central office follows: Lloyd M. 
Hooper, chairman; Fred H. Gormley, executive secretary; 
Frank Stollenwerck, chairman of speakers' bureau and field 
secretary; Charles E. Allen, director of development; Miss 
Mamie Offutt, assistant secretary-treasurer; Mrs. G. H. 
Mathis, field secretary; William P. Cobb, field secretary; C. 
Guy Smith, State musical director; Dr. Thomas M. Owen, 
State war historian; Herbert Coleman, State photographic 
representative ; Miss Ruth Davis and Miss Elberta McQueen, 
assistant secretaries. 

Alabama is one of the few states in the Union which has 
given no financial support to the State Council. When 
the Legislature meets in January the law-makers will be 
asked for a small appropriation for the period of readjust- 
ment provided the Federal Government feels that there is a 
field for operation for the State Council. 



18 Social Problems of Alabama 

Among the important duties assigned to the Alabama 
Council are the following: 

Approving or disapproving construction projects not 
necessary during the war. 

Keeping a complete history of Alabama's part in the war. 

Organizing Community Sings and Liberty Choruses. 

Maintaining an organization in every county which will 
be available for any government work on a moment's no- 
tice. 

Co-ordination of all war organizations in the State in 
order that duplication of effort might be prevented and a 
war machine might be ready at all times without a heavy 
expense to the nation. 

In addition, the State Council is charged with the duty of 
assisting every war organization in the State when it calls. 
Acting under this assignment, the Alabama Council of De- 
fense made an appropriation for the teaching of illiterate 
selectmen during the summer of 1918, assisted the State 
health department in combatting the spread of Spanish 
influenza, assisted every Liberty Loan Campaign, Red Cross 
drive, etc., with its State Speakers' Bureau, created a State 
Highways Transport Committee, which has been gathering 
information about Alabama roads available for motor trans- 
portation, lent its assistance to the selective service boards 
in preparing selectmen for military service and assisted 
selective service boards in the creation of permanent boards 
of instruction for selectmen. 

The Alabama Council of Defense did pioneer work in the 
detection of deserters, and its plan was so successful that 
the war department instructed all military camps through- 
out the nation to notify the state councils of persons absent 
without leave and in desertion. Representatives of all coun- 
ty councils of defense have been vigilant in investigating 
all reports transmitted to them by the War Department 
through the State Council and have succeeded in returning 
a large number to military camps. 

In order that every force in the State might be organized 
for war, the Alabama Council of Defense created an Advis- 
ory Committee on Negro Organization. This committee was 



Social Problems of Alabama 19 

made up of some of the most favorably known negro men 
of the State, being headed by Dr. Robert R. Moton, president 
of Tuskegee Institute. County councils, following the plan 
of the State Council, created Advisory Committees on Negro 
Organization. Thus the State has a system whereby the 
negro power of the State is ready for any service. The ad- 
visory committees work under the State and county councils 
in a way that the directing heads of all council work of the 
State can know at any time what is being done by the 
negro committee. 

The Woman's Division of the Council of Defense 

At my request the following brief outline of the war 
work of the women of Alabama has been furnished by Mrs. 
J. F. Hooper, Chairman of the Woman's Division of the 
Council of Defense: 

A Woman's Division of the Council of Defense was formed 
by the national committee. The eighteen State organizations 
of women elected Mrs. J. F. Hooper chairman of the Ala- 
bama Division, thereby placing her upon the State Execu- 
tive Board of the Council of Defense. This Division con- 
ducted the war work of the women, which was assembled 
under the departments recommended by the national com- 
mittee. 

To expedite the work of organization the State was 
divided into zones, a member of the organization committee 
becoming chairman of a zone, responsible for the organiza- 
tion of seven counties entrusted to her supervision. Many 
counties had a unit of the council in every community and 
the cities were divided into ward and street units. Through 
this strong minutely organized body all of the government 
measures were successfully conducted. Sixteen thousand 
women registered for service and the system proved a prac- 
tical economic factor in the industrial problems of the larger 
cities. 

Food conservation demonstrators visited every county and 
instructed the women in war substitutes, established Hoover 
kitchens and taught the art and duty of economy. 



20 Social Problems of Alabama 

Child conservation was undertaken under the program 
for "Children's Year," sent out by the National Children's 
Bureau ; 15,000 children were weighed and measured ; free 
clinics and food depots were established ; conferences, illus- 
trated lectures and courses of study were provided in every 
part of the State, and a national play-day is in preparation. 

The Public Information Committee was active in seven 
campaigns and 112 four-minute women have carried their 
messages to 600,000 people. The total results from the 
four Liberty Loan campaigns placed to the credit of the 
woman's committee a sale of $17,608,000. 

Home and foreign relief work was done, largely through 
the Red Cross ; but over and above the magnificent service 
rendered through that channel, the women of Alabama have 
supported 726 French orphans and endowed 13 beds in the 
American Hospital in France. 

The Music Committee has stirred the patriotism of the 
people by liberty choruses and by providing weekly enter- 
tainments for the camps in Alabama. With two camps in 
the State the interest of the Division centered largely in 
camp activities, and flowers, dainties and automobile rides 
for convalescents were a daily service by the relief and 
motor divisions. Pianos, victrolas, rolling chairs, maga- 
zines, everything that could make for the comfort of the 
soldier lad were freely and gratefully bestowed. This work 
could not be estimated in dollars and cents, although thou- 
sands of dollars were expended, for it dealt with the work 
of the spirit and the preservation of the morale of the men 
in the army. 

The Committee on Conservation of the Spiritual Life of 
the Nation instituted a special prayer service for the safety, 
both physical and moral, of the boys over there and for the 
strengthening of faith in the watchers at home. 

The Americanization Committee brought many able na- 
tional speakers to Alabama to spread abroad the great 
national ideals and to impress upon the people their per- 
sonal responsibility for upholding them. 

The conclusion of the whole matter is: believing that, 
other things being equal, the nation would win whose 



Social Problems of Alabama 21 

women showed intelligence and efficiency as well as pa- 
triotism and devotion, the women of Alabama had as their 
goal efficient, loyal, unbounded service, and they feel that 
they helped, in some measure, to speed the day of victory. 

State War Historian 

The privilege of making up the record of the participation 
of Alabama and Alabamians in the European war has been 
committed to Dr. Thomas M. Owen as State War Historian 
of the Alabama Council of Defense. On inquiry I find that 
Dr. Owen as Director of the Alabama State Department of 
Archives and History has been carefully and painstakingly 
collecting all available data, not only bearing upon the gen- 
eral struggle, but also in reference to Alabama activities 
and Alabama men. Therefore his new duties will be merely 
an enlargement of title. He plans a full and exhaustive 
collection of European war books, military and technical 
books, histories and historical sketches of all federal, mili- 
tary, welfare and commercial activities operating in the 
State, and the personal records of all officers and enlisted 
men in the military or naval service of the United States 
from Alabama. 

The selection of Dr. Owen for this task is eminently fit- 
ting. His work at the head of one of the most important 
departments of the State Government is a guarantee that 
the new work will be well done. In this connection, I desire 
generally to acknowledge many courtesies at the hands of 
Dr. Owen in the compilation of this report. 

Alabama's Good Start 

I find that the social work of the State, so far as it has 
been developed, is for the most part good; some of it is 
superior. The State Board of Health has a clear concep- 
tion of its place in the upbuilding of the State. The 
Alabama Bryce Hospital for the insane, under the master 
hand of Dr. Peter Bryce, became one of the notable hospitals 
of the United States and it has held its place under his able 
successor. The Mount Vernon Hospital for negroes, which 
is under the same superintendent, maintains similar stand- 



22 Social Problems of Alabama 

ards. It stands side by side with the Virginia state hospital 
for negroes as one of the two best hospitals of their class. 

The schools for the white deaf, the white blind and the 
school for negro deaf and blind are creditable in their equip- 
ment, management and educational spirit. The Alabama 
Industrial School for White Boys and the State Training 
School for Girls are being developed in accordance with 
modern standards. The Alabama Reform School for Juve- 
nile Negro Law Breakers, notwithstanding its meager equip- 
ment, is again one of the two best institutions of its class, 
ranking with the Negro Reformatory at Hanover, Vir- 
ginia. 

The Confederate Soldiers' Home is giving tender care and 
skillful attendance to the men, now grown feeble in their old 
age, who consecrated their lives to the service of the State 
half a century ago. 

The Tuberculosis Hospital which has been developed by 
the Board of Inspectors of Convicts at Wetumpka is excel- 
lent, notwithstanding the fact that all of the nurses and 
attendants are convicts, and it is a great safeguard against 
the spread of tuberculosis. It is rather extraordinary that 
citizens of Alabama who need public treatment for tubercu- 
losis can obtain it only by getting themselves committed to 
the penitentiary. 

The State University is developing a true university spirit 
and is beginning to take an active part in the evolution of 
the educational, social, civic and industrial work of the 
State. The Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the Girls' Tech- 
nical Institute, the six State Normal Schools for white stu- 
dents, the State Normal Schools for negro students, the 
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, the Agricultural 
and Normal School of Alabama for Negroes, the State-aided 
agricultural training schools and high schools all testify to 
the purpose of the State to foster the social and educational 
interests of the people. 

A Universal Handicap 

Notwithstanding the general fine spirit and the excellent 
work which most of these institutions are doing, I was met 
everywhere by the cry of poverty, insufficient appropria- 



Social Problems of Alabama 23 

tions and inadequate equipment. Only three of the State 
institutions above mentioned have what might be called a 
fair equipment for their work. 

The appropriations made before the war were inadequate, 
yet it was possible to live on them by strict economy; but 
under the conditions created by the war it is no longer pos- 
sible to meet the actual necessities of the inmates. It is no 
exaggeration to say that many of the wards of the State are 
suffering for the lack of what is essential not only to their 
comfort but to their decent care, feeding, and clothing. The 
next Legislature will be compelled, on grounds of common 
humanity, to find a way to meet this acute situation and 
provide for the needs of the helpless people who are de- 
pendent absolutely upon the provision made by the State. 

It does not need an expert to verify these statements. The 
ordinary citizen can verify them for himself on a simple 
statement of the facts. 

STATE OF ALABAMA 

Receipts and Disbursements 

receipts 

Fiscal Year Ending 
Ad Valorem Taxes: Sept. 30, 1917 Sept. 30, 1918 

For old soldiers (1 mill) $ 629,200 10% $ 641,700 9% 

For education (3 mills) 1,887,500 31 1,925,200 29 

For general purposes (2y 2 mills) 1,573,000 27 1,604,400 24 

Total Ad Valorem Taxes (6% mills) $4,089,700 68% $4,171,300 62% 

Poll Taxes $ 141,100 2 $ 189,000 3 

License Taxes - 785,700 13 911,800 14 

Convict Department (net) 506,400 8 775,100 11 

Insurance Department 313,900 5 358,600 5 

Miscellaneous Receipts 218,100 4 315,500 5 

Grand Totals $6,054,900 100% $6,721,300 100% 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Schools of every character $3,130,000 52% $3,385,400 51% 

Confederate Pensions 993,300 16 956,800 14 

State Institutions (except schools).. 428,600 9 439,800 7 

Feeding Prisoners 129,800 ..... 81,300 .... 

Interest 417,800 7 428,645 6 

State Government 520,100 9 499,400 7 

Detached activities (boards, etc.). 232,100 4 236,700 4 

Miscellaneous 62,100 1 45,700 1 

Total expenses $5,913,800 98% $6,073,700 90% 

Surplus 141,100 2 647,600 10 

Grand Totals (as above) $6,054,900 100% $6,721,300 100% 



24 Social Problems of Alabama 

Support of State Institutions 

It is the practice of the Legislature of Alabama to make 
appropriations for State institutions on a per capita basis, 
according to the number of persons to be supported. At 
the present time, appropriations are made as follows : 

Monthly 
per Inmate 

Bryce Hospital for Insane $15.00 

Mt. Vernon Hospital for Insane 15.00 

Confederate Soldiers' Home 12.50 

Industrial School for White Boys 12.50 

State Training School for Girls 12.50 

Reform School for Juvenile Negro Law Breakers* 7.00 

These allowances amount to 50 cents per day for each 
inmate of the insane hospitals, 41 cents per day for each 
inmate of the Soldiers' Home and the reformatories for 
white children, and about 30 cents per day for each inmate 
of the Reform School for Negro Boys. 

Allowances Insufficient 

Before the war, these allowances would have been small 
enough, even if they had covered only bare living expenses : 
salaries and wages, food, clothing, fuel, medical supplies, 
repairs, and so forth. In some states these expenses amount 
to from $12.50 to $18 per month for the insane, and from 
$12 to $25 per month for children in juvenile reformatories. 
Under the pressure of the war these expenses have increased 

25 to 50 per cent, and separate additional appropriations 
are made for buildings and repairs. In the city of New 
York the appropriations for care of dependent children have 
recently been increased from $13 to $19 per month. 

But in Alabama this allowance of $12.50 to $15 per month 
is expected not only to cover the ordinary expenses of main- 
tenance, but expenses for the purchase of land and the 
erection of buildings. The hospitals for insane and the 
Industrial School for White Boys have had no building 
appropriations for many years, and the Reform School for 

*The Reform School has an additional appropriation of $8,000 per year 
for the salaries of the superintendent and employees. • 



Social Problems of Alabama 25 

Negro Boys has never had any building appropriation. 
These institutions have saved out of their scanty allowance 
money enough to buy material and to employ foremen, and 
have erected buildings by the labor of their own inmates 
and employees. 

Two Notable Hospitals For Insane 

The two hospitals for insane are doing social work of the 
highest quality. I have visited many insane hospitals, but 
I have never seen a more careful diagnosis or a better 
co-ordination of the medical work and the social work than 
is found in these two hospitals ; but their equipment is pain- 
fully inadequate. There has been no special appropriation 
for buildings in thirty years. They lack the equipment 
which is now recognized as essential in every well ordered 
hospital for insane. They have no suitable laboratories, no 
equipment for hydro-therapeutic treatment, no separate 
hospital wards for sick patients and surgical cases, and no 
separate provision for tuberculous patients. With the ex- 
ception of separate residences for the superintendents, the 
officers' quarters are antiquated and insanitary. One corner 
of the guest chamber at the Alabama Bryce Hospital is cut 
off by a wooden partition to serve as a barber shop for the 
officers. The kitchens are meagerly equipped. The wards 
have ancient wooden bedsteads, and the furnishings are 
meager. 

The Alabama Bryce Hospital for the Insane 
The Alabama Bryce Hospital for the Insane was estab- 
lished in 1860. Its superintendent, the late Dr. Bryce, was 
one of the leading alienists of the United States and, under 
his leadership, the hospital became recognized as one of the 
best institutions in the United States. Upon the death of 
Dr. Bryce, his assistant, Dr. James E. Searcy, became super- 
intendent, and, under his leadership, the high standards of 
the hospital have been fully maintained. 

The writer has been familiar with hospitals for insane 
for the past thirty-five years, and has never seen an institu- 
tion in which more regard was paid both to the medical and 
to the human side of the work than at Tuscaloosa. The 



2€ Social Problems of Alabama 

ideal of the hospital, as stated by Superintendent Searcy, is 
to "treat every insane person as if sane, as far as pos- 
sible." 

Upon admission each patient is assigned to one of the 
medical officers for study and diagnosis of his case. Every 
Monday the medical staff holds a clinic for the consideration 
of new cases. Each patient is brought into the room, and 
the complete record of his case is read in his presence by 
the physician to whom his case has been assigned. An 
opportunity is given for the patient, if sufficiently intelli- 
gent, to make his own statement and ask questions. The 
doctor to whom the case has been assigned then presents his 
diagnosis, which is discussed and criticised by the other 
members of the staff, and a formal vote is taken as to 
whether this diagnosis shall stand. In this way the united, 
scientific knowledge of the staff is concentrated upon each 
case. 

Each member of the medical staff has assigned to him a 
portion of the hospital, which he visits daily. It is the prac- 
tice of the doctors to meet and address personally each 
patient every day, in order to insure personal contact, and 
to insure close personal observation. There is thus estab- 
lished a personal relation between the physician and the 
patient which has a most wholesome effect. The example 
of this painstaking attention of the physicians tends to in- 
crease the sense of responsibility and interest on the part 
of the nurses throughout the hospital. 

A training school for nurses is maintained, with a three- 
years' course. Recently, trained female nurses have been 
introduced upon male wards, with very gratifying results. 
Unfortunately, owing to the war demand for trained nurses, 
and owing to the failure to increase appropriations, the 
hospital has been compelled to supply the lack of trained 
nurses by the employment in part of untrained attendants. 

A dentist is employed full-time. The teeth of all incom- 
ing patients are examined and the necessary treatment is 
given. This is a matter of great importance, not only for 
the comfort of the patients, but because it is now recognized 
that diseased teeth are often accountable for conditions 
which aggravate insanity. 



Social Problems of Alabama 27 

I was greatly disappointed to discover that the State is 
failing to make adequate provision for this splendid institu- 
tion. There has been no building appropriation for thirty 
years, and no construction has been done except what could 
be provided from the maintenance appropriations. As a 
result it has been impossible to^provide necessary buildings. 
There are no separate hospitals for the sick, no psychopathic 
wards and no separate wards for tuberculosis, such as are 
now found in all well-equipped hospitals for the insane. 
Many of the buildings are in bad repair, resulting in insani- 
tary conditions. There are no suitable laboratories and no 
equipment for hydro-therapeutic treatment. 

There has been no adequate increase of appropriation to 
meet the increase of expense due to the war. Up to April, 
1917, the appropriation for maintenance and improvements 
was only $3.25 per week per patient; since that time it has 
been advanced to $3.50 per week. This was a moderate 
allowance for maintenance (not to mention improvements) 
before the war, but since the entrance of the United States 
into the war the amount is absolutely inadequate for the 
proper care of the patients. 

The cost of food purchased in 1917 for each person fed, 
including officers and employees, was 14.2 cents per day. 
This was supplemented by the products of the farm, but it 
is far below the average expenditure of similar institutions 
in other states. 

In the absence of any increased appropriation it has been 
impossible to increase the compensation of the officers and 
employees. At the present time the scale of wages is as 
follows : 

Male supervisor, $50 per month; 

Assistant, $40 per month; 

Female supervisor, $55 per month ; 

Assistant, $45 per month ; 

Female nurses, $14 to $25 per month; 

Male nurses, $25 to $35 per month. 

The absurdity of this scale of wages may be seen from 
the fact that the State of Alabama is now receiving for the 
labor of convicts at the Pratt mines as follows : 



28 Social Problems of Alabama 

For fourth-class miners, $50 per month ; 
For third-class miners, $60 per month ; 
For second-class miners, $70 per month ; 
For first-class (about 150 men), $80 per month, and 
board. 

The employees and officers of the hospital pay all of 
their own expenses except board and lodging. If we esti- 
mate that the board and lodging of the employees at the 
hospital cost the State $20 per month, then the wage scale 
would be as follows : 

Supervisors, male, $70 per month ; 
Supervisors, female, $75 per month; 
Nurses, male, $45 to $55 per month. 
Nurses, female, $34 to $45 per month. 

In other words, the State is actually receiving for the 
labor of convict miners more money than it is paying for the 
services of conscientious trained people to take care of its 
insane patients. 

The medical staff of the hospital having been depleted by 
enlistments in the military service, it is extremely diffi- 
cult to secure competent men at the present meager salaries, 
and the superintendent has been compelled to substitute 
inexperienced "attendants" for many of the trained nurses. 
If the Alabama hospitals for insane are to maintain the 
proud position which they have held for more than thirty 
years, they must have more money. 

In order to maintain hospital standards, to introduce 
modern therapeutic measures, to remove fire risks which 
endanger the lives of both patients and employees, to make 
repairs which are imperative in order to produce sanitary 
conditions, to provide separate accommodations for con- 
sumptives and pellagra cases, to cover the actual increase in 
the cost of food, clothing and fuel, and to increase the pay 
of faithful physicians and employees so as partly to meet 
the increased cost of living and approximate the wages now 
paid to ordinary laborers by private employers, the allow- 
ance per patient ought to be not less than $20 per month. 



Social Problems of Alabama 29 

Care of the Confederate Veterans 

The Confederate Soldiers' Home is beautifully located and 
the old soldiers are cared for in well-planned cottages. The 
administration is efficient and kind, adapted to the needs 
of these feeble old men. The Home has become in reality 
a hospital ; but it is impossible to keep competent nurses 
and, in order to provide proper hospital care under the 
present scale of prices, the monthly allowance of $12.50 
should be increased to $25 or $30 per patient. 

The Industrial School For White Boys 

The Industrial School for White Boys is losing its best 
employees, who have either enlisted in the army or have 
been attracted by the high wages paid for government work, 
and the institution is entirely unable to compete in the labor 
market. It has been necessary to close a large part of the 
industrial training work for lack of people. The school is 
greatly in need of additional buildings. A beautiful cottage 
has been built entirely by the labor of the boys at a cash 
outlay of less than one-half of what it would have cost to 
build it by contract. This cottage is used for the superin- 
tendent's residence. The boys stand ready to build similar 
cottages for their own use as soon as means are provided to 
purchase materials. 

In 1906 the Legislature appropriated $50,000 for a school 
house; but since that time there has been no building ap- 
propriation. The material for the new cottage was paid 
for from the monthly allowance of $12.50 per boy. 

To the best of my knowledge this is the only industrial 
school for boys in the United States with a board of trustees 
composed exclusively of women (except three State officers 
ex-officio) ; but they have demonstrated their ability to meet 
the situation. The allowance for the school should be ad- 
vanced immediately to $20 per boy. 

The appropriation of $12.50 per month is materially less 
than that which is made for the support of similar institu- 
tions of other states as indicated by the following state- 
ment: 



30 Social Problems of Alabama 

EXPENSES OF REFORMATORIES FOR BOYS, 1916. 

Average Rate per Rate per 

number year month 
Lyman School for Boys (Massachusetts).... 448 $281 $23.40 
Massachusetts Industrial School for Boys.. 221 372 31.00 
New York State Agricultural and Indus- 
trial School for Boys 741 239 19.90 

Ohio Industrial School for Boys 1,201 174 14.50 

Iowa Industrial School for Boys 43G 374 31.20 

Minnesota State Training School for Boys.. 217 412 34.33 

Oregon State School for Boys 4:12 36.00 

Alabama Industrial School for Boys 375 150 12.50 

The State Training School For Girls 

The State Training School for Girls has worked under 
the greatest difficulty for lack of proper housing. It has 
occupied an old boarding house, with an annex consisting of 
a cheap temporary cottage. The buildings were desper- 
ately crowded and insanitary. But the veteran superin- 
tendent, Mrs. Ophelia L. Amigh, who was for many years 
superintendent of the great Illinois Training School for 
Girls, has held on heroically with her faithful assistants, 
and has demonstrated the indispensable value of the school. 

The State has recently purchased the beautiful Matzu- 
yama farm of 500 acres, with buildings worth $50,000 for 
$25,000, and the school has recently been moved to the 
farm. The buildings are inadequate, especially in the lack 
of a place of security for incorrigible girls who want to run 
away. 

At this juncture, the United States has offered to build a 
suitable cottage for the purpose, provided the State will 
receive for the time being certain women arrested under 
United States laws. 

The appropriation of $12.50 per month for each girl in 
the Training School for Girls is much less than the amount 
appropriated for similar schools in other states as is shown 
by the following statement : 

EXPENSES OF REFORMATORIES FOR (URLS. 1916. 

Expense iter imitate 
Average Rate per Rate \« r 
mi m tier year month 

Massachusetts Industrial School for ("Jirls ... 266 $307 $25.60 

New York Training School for Girls 349 . 313 26.00 

Ohio Industrial School for Girls 462 277 23.00 

Indiana Girls' School 363 IMS 20.60 

Iowa Industrial School for Girls 167 562 16.80 

Minnesota Home School for Girls 19;? 381 31.75 

Alabama Training School for (Jirls 50 150 12.50 



Social Problems of Alabama 31 

The Reform School For Negroes 

The trustees of the Reform School for Juvenile Negro 
Law Breakers have made a remarkable record under the 
leadership of Judge William H. Thomas, of the Supreme 
Court, who has devoted a large amount of time to its devel- 
opment. Superintendent A. Simms was educated at Tuske- 
gee and has succeeded in developing a fine industrial spirit. 

These negro boys who were apparently destined to popu- 
late the jails and prison camps have erected all the buildings 
at the school except one. They have not only made bricks 
without straw but they have made bricks without clay. 
They have built of reinforced concrete a dairy barn with 
silo and modern equipment and a dormitory which do credit 
to the institution. When I entered the dairy barn I found 
it perfectly clean and free from stable smells. I said to 
Judge Thomas, "I suppose that this barn is not in use during 
the summer." He replied, "The cows were in here this 
morning; they are here every day." Think what it means 
for these ignorant and degraded negro boys to form the 
habit of caring for cows and keeping a dairy stable with the 
same cleanliness and efficiency which would be found in 
the barns of the Walker-Gordon Company! 

Some of the boys from this school, like the white boys 
from the Boys' Industrial School, have enlisted and are 
serving their country with the armies of the Allies. The 
school is making useful citizens out of a class of boys who 
would otherwise infallibly become a burden and a menace 
to the State. 

The monthly allowance for each boy in the reform school 
is $7, with an extra allowance of about $2 per month for 
salaries ; yet out of this $9 a month the trustees have paid 
for 380 acres of land, and also for the materials for these 
valuable buildings. Nearly all of the food consumed, includ- 
ing meat, is raised on the farm ; but it is necessary to pur- 
chase clothing, bedding, furniture, school books, tools, farm- 
ing implements, building material, plumbing material, etc. 
It is easy to imagine how far this meager allowance will go 
in covering all of these necessities at the present prices. 
Nevertheless, with astonishing courage and faith, Judge 



32 Social Problems of Alabama 

Thomas and Superintendent Simms were making plans for 
two small new cottages for the use of the boys and addi- 
tional dining room facilities. 

The monthly allowance for this school should be advanced 
to $12.50 per month, the amount now allowed for the 
Industrial School for White Boys. 

. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION 

A new conception has arisen in the South as to the impor- 
tance of the subject of public health, not only as it is related 
to the happiness and comfort of the people, but also as it is 
related to economic progress. Formerly labor was abundant, 
at nominal prices. Farm hands could be had for $15 to 
$25 per month and working-women could be obtained for 
50 cents to 75 cents per day; but I saw negro women 
unloading cars and digging trenches at $2.50 per day and 
negro laborers who were earning $3 to $4 per day, and even 
at these prices the labor supply was inadequate. Under 
these circumstances, the preservation of the health and 
strength of laborers becomes an economic problem. A single 
corporation in Alabama is spending more than $200,000 per 
year in health work for their employees, not simply as a 
matter of philanthropy, but because they consider it "good 
business." 

The Agricultural Department of Alabama long since 
learned to apply this principle with reference to farm ani- 
mals. 

The State expended last year for prevention of hog 

cholera $ 28,000 

Eradication of cattle ticks 25,000 

Live Stock Sanitary Board 5,000 



$58,000 
The appropriation for the State Board of Health is $25,000 

per year. Fifty-eight thousand dollars per year to preserve 

the health of farm animals and $25,000 to preserve the 

health of human animals ! 

Other Southern States are taking a larger view of this 

question, as may be seen from the following statement : 



Social Problems of Alabama 33 

APPROPRIATIONS FOR STATE BOARDS OF HEALTH 



State 



a ^ a 



o 

^ o I 

Q a2 w 



«! be 



Florida 

Virginia 

Texas 

Kentucky 

North Carolina . 
South Carolina. 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Tennessee 

Georgia 

ALABAMA 

Arkansas 



$ 165,000 

238,700 

378,300 

115,000 

144,800 

102,200 

118,400 

40,000 

30,500 

66,500 

26,200 

74,500 



184 
109 
85 
48 
60 
63 
63 
l!2 
13 
23 
11 
43 



74,700 
127,500 



40,000 
49.000 

70,000 



36,000 
"58^500 



$ 165,000 

164,000 

250,800 

115,000 

104,S00 

53.200 

48,400 

40.000 

30,500 

30.500 

26,200 

16.000 



184 
75 
57 
4S 
44 
33 
25 
22 
13 
11 
11 
9 



Totals |$1,500,100$ 56|$ 455,700 $1,044,400]* 39 



The foregoing table shows that the appropriations in 
Alabama for public health are less than one-fourth of the 
average and that only one Southern State appropriates as 
little in proportion to its population. 

The President of the State Board of Health has a broad 
vision of the possibilities of the department. He believes 
that the State ought to expend at least $150,000 per year 
in the next three years for public health. He has proposed 
the following budget for the coming three years : 



PROPOSED BUDGET OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH 



1919 | 1920 

I 



1921 



1. Administration 

2. Tuberculosis Sanitarium 

3. Laboratory 

4. Bureau of Statistics 

5. Bureau of Sanitary Engineering and In 

spection 

6. Bureau of Industrial Hygiene 

7. Bureau of Epidemology and Venereal Dis 

eases - 

8. Bureau of Rural Sanitation - 

Total 



$ 15,00O|$ 15.000|$ 15,000 
75.000 L. 

20.000 15.000] 15.000 
12,500 10,0001 10,000 



3,500 
7,000 

7,000 

10.000 



20,000 1 20,000 

40.000 40,000 

20.0001 20,000 
30,000] 30.000 



$ 150,000 



$ 150,000|$ 150,000 



34 



Social Problems of Alabama 



Whatever opinions may be held as to the necessity for 
economy, I can see no escape from the necessity for a large 
increase in the expenditures for the promotion and the 
preservation of the lives and health of the people. 



PUBLIC EDUCATION 

I have made up from the report of the United States Com- 
missioner of Education the following statements : 

TOTAL RECEIPTS OF UNIVERSITIES. COLLEGES AND 
TECHNOLOGICAL SCHOOLS 





Total Receipts 


Same for 

each 1.000 

Inhabitants 


The United States 


$133,627,000 

40.015,000 

41,781,000 

10.674,000 

9,201,000 

2.309.000 

3.111,000 

3,338.000 

1,460.000 

1. 435.000 

971.000 

1.070,000 

1.485.000 

450.000 

913.000 

884.000 

729.000 

(',95.000 


$ 1.310 


North Atlantic Division 


1.385 


North Central Division 


1,300 


South Atlantic Division 


809 




323 




1.054 




912 


Texas .. . 


754 




638 




597 




597 




585 




520 


Florida 


503 




468 




371 




331 


ALAR \MA 


298 




390.000 224 









It appears from the foregoing statement that the income 
of the institutions for higher education in the State of 
Alabama rer inhabitant is less than that of any other State 
in the Union except the state of Arkansas. 

In the Survey of the National Child Labor Committee, 
discussed elsewhere in this report, there is a discussion of 
the educational work of the State which deserves careful 
study. I have compiled from that discussion the following 
statement of 



Social Problems of Alabama 



35 



APPROPRIATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 



Institutions 
Alabama Polytechnic Institute — 

From the State $53,510 

Productive Funds 21,440 

Federal Government 27,900 



Pei- 
Amount Students Student 



Alabama Girls' Technical School — 

From the State $36,000 

Productive Funds 18,000 



Class A Normal Schools — 
From the State 



$102,S50 1,478 



54,250 1,108 



80,000 1,840 



District Agricultural Schools- 
From the State 



40,500 



859 



Totals.... $277,600 5,285 



State University — 

From the State $66,000* 

Productive Funds 26,630 



92,630 1,673 



$70 



49 



43 



47 



$52 



56 



'Not including the Medical School. 



It appears from the foregoing statement that in these 
schools of lower grade the appropriation per student is 
nearly as large as that in the University and that on the 
average the appropriation for their 5,285 students is only 
$4 less per year. 

I have made up a statement from the annual reports of 
the United States Commissioner of Education for 1915-1916, 
pages 306 and 342, showing the total incomes of the 40 
state universities in the United States and showing the 
amount of this income for each inhabitant of the State and 
for each student, not including students in summer schools. 

This statement reveals the fact that Alabama stands 
thirty-seventh in the total income of her University, thirty- 
eighth in her University income per inhabitant and thirty- 
ninth in the income per student. 

INCOME OF STATE UNIVERSITIES PER STUDENT: 1915-1916.* 





Studentsf 
Enrolled 
[nconie for 


Total 


Income 

Each 1,000 

Inhabit's 


Income 
per 

Student 




286 
466 
441 
217 
5,131 


$ 259,000 

293,000 

258,000 

119,000 

2,776,000 


$1,443 

1.147 

2,418 

290 

1,110 


$905 
629 






585 




550 


5. Wisconsin 


541 



36 



Social Problems of Alabama 



INCOME OF STATE UNIVERSITIES PER STUDENT 

(Continued.) 



1915-1910.* 



Studentst 

Enrolled 
Income for 



Total 



i Income 
lEach 1.00C 

I Inhabits 



Income 
per 

Student 



G. California 

7. West Virginia. 

8. Idaho 

9. Illinois 

10. Georgia 



11. Vermont 

12. Florida 

13. North Dakota. 

14. Iowa 

15. Montana 



16. Ohio ,. 

17. North Carolina 
IS. Maine 

19. Texas 

20. Virginia 



21. Minnesota 

22. Missouri 

23. Pennsylvania 

24. South Dakota. 

25. Tennessee 



26. Louisiana 

27. Michigan 

28. Arkansas 

29. Nel raska 

30. Kansas ... 



31. Indiana 

32. Kentucky 

33. Colorado 

34. Washington ..... 

35. South Carolina. 



36. Oklahoma 

37. Oregon 

38. ALABAMA 

39. Mississippi 

40. Utah 



6,502 
1,027 

527 
5,850 



002 
411 
878 
2.814 
551 

5,095 
1.059 
1,205 
2,749 
1,082 

7,802 
4.083 
5.27.", 
573 
1,010 

915 
6,462 

855 
4.826 
2,633 

2,664 
1,154 
1.402 
3,225 
593 

1.486 

1.243 

761 

601 

1.722 



3,491,000 
547.000 
279.000 

3,052,000 

357,000 

308,000 

196,000 

418,000 

1,320,000 

234.000 

1,956,000 
384,000 
428,000 
964,000 
373,000 

2,603.000 

1,354.000 

1,750,000 

189,000 

327,000 

292,000 
2,015.000 

268,000 
1,433.000 

762.000 

764.000 
320,000 
306.000 
828.000 
149,000 

365,000 
301.000 
176,000 
119,000 

211.000 



1,188 
395 
650 
496 
125 

847 
219 
555 
595 
509 

380 
160 
554 
218 
170 

1,142 
397 
201 
270 
143 

160 
660 
154 

1,128 
416 

271 
134 
380 
540 
91 

166 
360 

75 

01 

486 



537 
533 
530 
522 

518 

512 
477 
47i; 
469 
425 

384 
363 
355 
351 
345 

334 
332 
332 
330 
324 

319 
312 
303 

297 
289 

287 

278 
261 

257 
251 

246 

242 
231 
198 
122 



Total, 40 States... | 86,877 



$32,004,000 



$ 403 



$375 



Even the more liberal appropriations made to the schools 
of lower grade are reported to be insufficient. I am advised 
by the head of one of the schools that their teaching force 
is becoming demoralized because they are unable to pay 
sufficient salaries to hold their best teachers. 



Social Problems of Alabama 37 

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 

Wealth and School Expenditure* 

Expenditures for Public School for Each $100 True Value of Public 

Property 

18S0 1890 1900 1904 1912 

Cents Cents Cents Cents Cents 

United States 17.9 21.6 24.3 25.5 25.7 

South Atlantic Division 13.6 17.1 19.4 20.0 21.3 

South Central Division 12.6 16.7 18.8 21.3 

Georgia 7.8 14.0 21.2 19.2 21.4 

South Carolina 10.1 11.2 18.S 20.3 17.6 

Mississippi 23.5 24.4 24.7 27.1 20.9 

ALABAMA 11.7 14.3 11.8 13.0 17.4 

The expenditure of Alabama for public schools in propor- 
tion to property was lower in 1912 than that of any other 
state except Oklahoma. The recent adoption of the three- 
mill tax will doubtless cause an improvement. 

*Report of I S. Commissioner of Education, 1917, Vol. 2, p. 52. 
Public School Expenses Per Inhabitant 

The following table indicates the development and the 
relative standing of the public school system of Alabama 
as shown by the report of the United States Commissioner 
of Education for 1917 : 

Expended per capita of total population * 

1870 . 1880 1890 1900 1910 1915 

The United States 1.75 1.56 2.24 2.84 4.64 6.03 

South Atlantic Division 63 .68 .99 1.24 2.20 3.08 

South Central Division 73 .55 .97 1.08 2.42 3.10 

Georgia 24 .31 '.65 .89 1.70 2.20 

South Carolina 38 .33 .39 .67 1.29 1.99 

Mississippi 1.11 .73 .86 .89 1.52 1.48 

ALABAMA 36 .40 .59 .50 1.36 2.04 

*Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1917, Vol. 2, pp. 56 and 
58. 

The expenditures of Alabama per inhabitant are one-third 
as large as the average of the United States and 66 per cent 
as large as the average of the South Central States. 

Expenses Per Pupil, 1916 (Cities)* 
Annual expense per capita of average attendance 

The United States $44.60 

South Atlantic Division 29.45 

South Central Division 29.58 

Georgia 25.60 

South Carolina 16.31 

Mississippi 21.07 

ALABAMA 23.98 

♦Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1917, Vol. 2, p. 102. 



38 Social Problems of Alabama 

The expenditure of Alabama per pupil is 54 per cent as 
large as the average of the United States and 71 per cent as 
large as the average of the South Central States. 

Salaries of Teachers* 

A verage monthly Average annual 

salary salary 

The United States $70.21 $563.08 

South Atlantic Division 50.65 342.39 

South Central Division 61.18 413.58 

Georgia 44.49 304.31 

South Carolina 54.14 293.99 

Mississippi 37.99 233.64 

ALABAMA 50.96 344.00 

The average annual salary of teachers in Alabama is 79 
per cent of the average of the United States and 83 per cent 
of the average for the South Atlantic States. 



♦Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1917, Vol. 2, p. 77. 

Length of School Term* 

Average days attended 
by each pupil, 1916 

The United States 120.9 

South Atlantic Division 93.8 

South Central Division 90.0 

Georgia 98.9 

South Carolina 72.9 

Mississippi 75.4 

ALABAMA 84.8 

It is manifest that the children of Alabama are not enjoy- 
ing equal school opportunities with the more fortunate chil- 
dren of other states. This appears also from the records of 
attendance : 

School Attendance! 

Number attending daily for 
each 100 enrolled, 1916 

The United States 75.5 

South Atlantic Division 69.4 

South Central Division 66.6 

Georgia 72.8 

South Carolina t 69.0 

Mississippi 67.1 

ALABAMA 62.9. 

♦Report United States Commissioner of Education, 1917, Vol. 2, p. 75. 
tSame report, p. 74. 



Social Problems of Alabama 39 

Correction Slip— Please Paste on Page 39 
white and negro pupils 

(Report of Alabama Department of Education, 1918) 

Per cent Per ct. of 

ni ., , . „ . Whites of whole Nes/roes whole 

Children of School Age, State 

Census of 1918 455,000 59 315,000 41 

Pupils enrolled, 1918 376,000 66 190000 34 

Average attendance 235,000 69 102 000 31 

Number of teachers 9,050 77 2716 23 

Value of School houses and 

equipment $9,130,000.00 90 $9S2,000.00 10 

Salaries paid $3,682,000.00 89 $475,000 00 11 

Salaries paid per pupil en- 
rolled $9.79 $2 50 

Same per child of school age... $8.10 .... $1*50 

Female teachers, average year- 

] y saIai> y $367.00 .... $172.00 

From this statement it will be seen that while the negroes 
have 41 per cent of the children of school age, they have 
only 23 per cent of the teachers. The value of their school- 
houses is only 10 per cent of the whole. Expenditure per 
child is $2.50 per year as against $9.79 for the whites, and 
the amount paid for salaries of negro teachers is only 11 
per cent. 



Report of U. S. Bureau of Education 

The Bureau of Education of the Department of the Inte- 
rior at Washington published in 1917 a report on Negro 
Education, by Thomas Jesse Jones, from which I make the 
following extracts : 

"The inadequacy of the elementary school system for col- 
ored children is illustrated by the fact that the attendance 
in both public and private schools is less than 50 per cent of 
the children of elementary school age. The average term 
of the public school is less than five months. According 
to the report of the state superintendent 70 per cent of the 
colored teachers have only third grade certificates, repre- 
senting a preparation less than that usually given in the 
eight elementary grades." 

"There are only three four-year public high schools for col- 
ored people in Alabama. * * * The State Normal School at 
Montgomery, supported by State funds, and the Agricultural 
and Mechanical School at Huntsville, maintained largely by 



40 Social Problems of Alabama 

Federal funds, offer four-year secondary courses. * * * 
Talladega College is the only institution offering work of 
college grade to colored pupils, and its enrollment in college 
classes is only 45." 

"Teacher-training. — The most urgent need of the colored 
schools in Alabama is trained teachers. The supply now 
depends almost entirely upon the secondary schools, most of 
which are private institutions. Of these only seven offer fair- 
ly adequate courses in teacher-training. Eleven others in- 
clude one or two teacher-training subjects in their general 
course. To supplement these facilities, an effort has been 
made to develop county training schools. * * * Four of 
these schools are now maintained. * * * The pupils in the 
graduating classes of all the schools offering teacher-training 
subjects in 1915 numbered only 270, an annual output obvi- 
ously inadequate to meet the need for teachers in a state 
with over nine hundred thousand colored people and two 
thousand three hundred and fifty colored school teachers." 

"Industrial. — Through the influence of Tuskegee Insti- 
tute, industrial training has received considerable recogni- 
tion in Alabama. The State Agricultural and Mechanical 
College has long struggled, but with inadequate means, to 
teach trades. Calhoun Colored School * * * is genuinely 
interested in trade education, but its work is limited to the 
elementary grades. * * * Satisfactory industrial work 
is done in ten private schools, and seven others are attempt- 
ing to give manual training. A number of the private 
schools give good instruction in cooking and sewing." 

"Agriculture. — The agricultural training of the colored 
people of Alabama depends on the extensive facilities of 
Tuskegee Institute and a few smaller schools. Of the smaller 
schools, Calhoun is doing especially effective work. Two 
others do fairly successful work. Nine other institutions 
have large farms, and some of their pupils are employed as 
laborers. * * * The majority of the schools, however, 
fail to provide for systematic training in agriculture. In 
the effort to acquire large farms, all but a few of the schools 
have overlooked the educational possibilities of a well 
planned course in gardening." 



Social Problems of Alabama 41 

"Seventeen counties * * * have Jeanes Fund super- 
visors traveling among the rural schools introducing train- 
ing and extending the influence of the school into the com- 
munity. * * * With the financial help of the General 
Education Board, these supervisors and other agents have 
organized 'home-makers clubs' whose membership in 1915 
numbered 5,111 colored girls and 3,408 mothers. These 
clubs put up over 250,000 quarts of fruits and vegetables 
and contributed much to the development of pride in home 
life. The campaign for building rural school houses for col- 
ored children was begun as the result of the offer of Julius 
Rosenwald to supplement the efforts of any rural com- 
munity to build a school for colored people. The Rosenwald 
Fund is managed by the Extension Department of Tuskegee 
Institute. So far, the distribution has been much larger in 
Alabama than elsewhere. The total sum extended to the 
end of the school year of 1916 was $93,312. Of this, $45,567 
was contributed by the colored people, $27,400 by the Rosen- 
wald Fund, $3,795 by white people of the community, and 
$16,550 -by the State." 

The report concluded with the following 

"SUMMARY OF EDUCATIONAL NEEDS" 

"1. The strengthening or extension of the elementary 
school system. The only agencies able to supply this need 
are the State, the county, and the local public school dis- 
tricts. 

"2. The increase of teacher-training facilities. To this 
end secondary schools with teacher-training courses should 
be provided, more summer schools and teachers' institutes 
should be maintained and the private schools should co- 
operate with the State Department of Education by placing 
more emphasis on teacher-training courses in accordance 
with State standards. 

"3. More provision for instruction in gardening, house- 
hold arts and simple industry. In developing this work, 
school authorities of the counties would do well to consider 
the possibilities of the Jeanes Fund industrial supervisors. 



42 Social Problems of Alabama 

"4. More instruction in agriculture and in the problems 
of rural life, so that teachers and leaders may be developed 
for a people 80 per cent rural. 

"5. Establishment of industrial high schools in cities." 

I was able to visit only three of the seventy-two private 
schools for negroes, Tuskegee Institute, Talladega College, 
and the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. (I had 
previously visited the excellent State Normal School for Ne- 
groes at Montgomery, which is one of the two public institu- 
tions of higher grade for negroes in the State.) 

I shall not attempt any description of Tuskegee Institute, 
which is widely known throughout the country. I noted 
two points of interest: First, that the Tuskegee Institute 
receives an annual appropriation from the State treasury 
and is recognized as a part of the State educational system ; 
Second, the cordial attitude maintained by the white citizens 
and the public press toward the Institute. 

At Talladega College I was interested to note that although 
it is the only institution in the State which offers a college 
course to negro students, the college has a large farm and 
is giving intensive instruction in practical dairying. I 
was impressed with the good quality of the work being done, 
and by the fine spirit of the faculty and the students. 

The Montgomery Industrial School is a good example of 
the value of such schools not only to the negro population, 
but also to the white community. I witnessed a primary les- 
son in domestic science in which the girls were instructed 
that when they came into the kitchen to prepare a meal 
their hands, their nails, their aprons, and every utensil must 
be scrupulously clean; that every article of food must be 
carefully guarded against the slightest contamination or 
infection, and that their task must be performed with con- 
scientious fidelity. This spirit runs through all the work of 
the school. These girls, after being trained, go into the 
white families of Montgomery to cook the food, take care 
of sleeping apartments, and nurse children. The careful 
training which they receive becomes a direct contribution 
to the comfort, health and safety of their white neighbors, 
while the training which they have received in morals and 
conscientious industry greatly increases their efficiency. 



Social Problems of Alabama 43 

THE CONVICT SYSTEM OF ALABAMA 

The convicts of Alabama are of two classes: State and 
county. The State convicts are under the care of the Board 
of Inspectors of Convicts, one of whom is the president of 
the board and the chief executive officer ; another is a physi- 
cian known as the associate inspector, whose chief duty is 
to examine incoming convicts and to decide as to their fitness 
for work. He has supervision also of the medical work in 
the different camps. 

County convicts again are divided into two classes : those 
who are worked within the county and those who are con- 
tracted for work outside of the county. Those who remain 
within their own county are entirely under the control of the 
County Board, without any State supervision. Those who 
are leased out to contractors outside of the county are sub- 
ject to the inspection of the Board of Inspectors of Con- 
victs, which board receives reports as to the work and treat- 
ment of such convicts. 

I commend the excellent system of bookkeeping which 
has been adopted by the present Board of Inspectors, where- 
by a monthly balance sheet is made up for each prison 
camp, showing its exact financial condition, and public prop- 
erty is duly accounted for. Such bookkeeping promotes 
honesty and faithfulness, and is well worth all that it costs. 

I commend also the practice of making daily settlements 
with the State Auditor, whereby all interest on the convict 
income goes directly to the State. 

The "State Prison Inspector," who works under the State 
Board of Health, has authority to inspect and condemn coun- 
ty jails and city jails, but has no authority to inspect or 
report upon county convicts of either class. 

The Old Lease System 

Alabama is one of the very few states, which still retain 
the convict lease system, this system having been aban- 
doned, I believe, by every state except Alabama, Florida, 
and North Carolina. 

Formerly, under the lease system, the lessee paid a fixed 
sum per month for the labor of each convict and became 



44 Social Problems of Alabama 

responsible for boarding, clothing, guarding, disciplining 
and doctoring the convicts. The State turned over to the 
lessee all of its responsibility for the prisoners who were 
reduced practically to condition of slavery. State inspectors 
visited the camps from time to time, and were supposed to 
protect the rights of the prisoners ; but the supervision was 
superficial and inadequate. It was for the interest of the 
lessee to get as much work as possible out of the men, and in 
many prison camps it was a common thing for prisoners to 
receive corporal punishment for "failure to perform task." 
The guards were ignorant and undisciplined, and there was 
a constant tendency for them to become cruel. Prisoners 
were frequently shot by nervous and excited guards while 
attempting to escape. The wardens were men of moderate 
ability, working for small pay, and they were judged accord- 
ing to their success in getting the largest amount of labor 
with the smallest expenditure. Prisoners usually received 
a sufficient quantity of food, but it was usually poorly cooked 
and badly served. The medical service was often inef- 
ficient; hospital accommodations were absent or very poor, 
prison buildings were of a temporary character, badly built 
and insanitary. 

The Modified Lease System 
The convict lease system as maintained by the Board of 
Inspectors of Convicts has been greatly modified so as to do 
away with many of its objectionable features. Under the 
present system in Alabama the lessee no longer feeds and 
clothes the prisoners. The State appoints a warden for each 
camp who hires and controls the guards. The State pro- 
vides food, clothing, bedding and medical attendance. In all 
of the camps except three mining camps, the State provides 
guards over the prisoners while they are at work ; but under 
the three mining contracts the lessee takes the prisoner at 
the mouth of the mine and is responsible for him during the 
working hours. When the prisoner comes out of the mine 
he is turned over to the State guard, who takes care of him 
until he goes to work again the next morning. 

I met five prison wardens, in charge of "The Walls" (the 
central prison at Wetumpka), the two mining camps at Flat 



Social Problems of Alabama 45 

Top and Montevallo, the Tuscaloosa turpentine and lumber 
camps, and the State cotton mill at Speigner (the cotton mill 
is owned by the State and is run on State account). Four 
of these men appeared to be competent, humane, and trust- 
worthy. 

In Alabama State convicts are leased in three coal mining 
camps, but the system has been so greatly modified from 
former methods that it has been claimed by some that the 
lease system no longer exists; but this contention can not 
be sustained because two essential conditions of the lease 
system undeniably exist: first, the labor of the convict is 
sold to a contractor and the products belong exclusively to 
him ; second, in the coal mines where the leased prisoners 
are employed, the prisoners are taken out of the custody of 
the warden and his subordinates, during working hours and 
are under the direction of the employees of the contractor. 

In the lumber and turpentine camps the prisoners are 
under the charge of State guards, during working hours; 
but the quality of these guards may be judged from the fact 
that they work for $35 per month, and, if they are all of the 
quality of the one whom I saw in charge of a gang of con- 
victs, they are incompetent either to control or protect the 
men under their charge; while on the other hand, the em- 
ployees of the company were fine, upstanding men who, 
simply by force of character, manifestly controlled prison- 
ers and guards alike. 

Authority of Mining Company's Foremen 
I made careful inquiry as to the authority held by the 
foremen of the mining companies who have charge of the 
convicts during working hours. The president of the Board! 
of Inspectors and the wardens at Flat Top and Montevallo 
stated, in answer to inquiry, that the mine foremen had no 
authority to enforce discipline upon the prisoners to the 
mine. I asked: "What if two prisoners get to fighting?" 
The answer was : "He must separate them and report them 
to the warden." "What if the prisoner refuses to work, or 
neglects his work?" The answer was: "He must send him 
out and report him to the warden. He has no authority 
whatever to compel him to work." 



46 Social Problems of Alabama 

It seemed incredible that the company's mine foremen 
who were in exclusive charge of the prisoners for nine to 
twelve hours daily should have no control over them; but 
on conversation with intelligent prisoners, by themselves, 
they made the same statement : namely, that the mine fore- 
men had no authority to enforce discipline, but that it was 
done by the warden or his deputy outside. 

This method was doubtless adopted to protect the pris- 
oners against over-work or mistreatment by the employees 
of the company; and in some ways, it does work to their 
advantage. The mine foremen have to get results by per- 
suasion and by stimulating the interest and good will of the 
prisoners, and they succeed in this to a surprising degree. 

The State Can Not Protect Its Prisoners 

But under this system, the State does not and can not 
protect its prisoners from physical injury, accidental death, 
moral degeneracy, or even from murder. The mine foreman 
can not check carelessness, quarreling, or vile practices. 

The published reports of the Board of Inspectors contain 
no information as to the number of men disabled by in- 
juries; but I saw a number of men in hospital who had 
suffered severe injuries. There is, of course, no provision 
of law to provide for the subsequent support of the many 
convicts who are permanently disabled by such injuries. 

The reports of the board do, however, give statistics of 
the mortality of prisoners, from which I have compiled some 
tables which form a melancholy record : 

MORTALITY OF CONVICTS— 1911 TO 1914 (4 YEARS) 

Cause of Death Number Per Cent 

Killed by accident 52 18 

Killed by convicts 16 

Killed by officers, or trying to escape 7 2 

Total violent deaths 75 25 

Tuberculosis and pneumonia 124 42 

Typhoid fever 13 4 

Miscellaneous causes 91 29 

Total 303 100 



Social Problems of Alabama 



47 



MORTALITY OF CONVICTS— 1915 TO 1918 (4 YEARS) 

Cause of Death Number Per Cent. 

Killed by accident 72 29 

Killed by convicts 28 7 

Killed by officers, or trying to escape 9 2 

Total violent deaths 110 28 

Tuberculosis and pneumonia 171 44 

Typhoid fever 16 4 

Miscellaneous causes 92 25 

Total 388 100 

In the four years, 1911 to 1914, 75 deaths (25 per cent), 
were due to violence and of these 75, 16 were murdered by 
their fellow convicts. In the four years, 1915 to 1918, 110 
deaths (28 per cent), were violent deaths, and of these 110, 
28 were murdered by their fellows. Presumably, as a rule, 
the murdered men were the milder and less criminal ones. 
In a number of cases, the authorities could not. determine 
whether the deaths were murderous or accidental. 



MORTALITY OF CONVICTS IN 30 STATES* 





Number of Deaths 


Rate per 1,000 




White 


Colored 


White 


Colored 


1. Arkansas 


12 
7 
7 
2 
3 

6 
3 

22 

11 

3 

6 
14 
3 
9 
5 

3 

33 

_„ 

2 


41 

11 

3 

3 

21 

38 
84 
8 
39 
35 

26 

9 

32 

7 
10 

13 

13 
36 

7 
7 


59.4 
7.3 

7.3 

4.8 
18.0 

11.4 
7.2 
9.1 

31.0 

8.9 

7.5 
11.3 
19.5 

8.8 
9.6 

7.6 

8.1 

13~1 

9.8 


69.3 


2. Indiana 


40 9 


3. Michigan 


40 


4. Iowa 


35 7 


5. South Carolina ..' 


30 8 


6. Tennessee 


29 5 


7. ALABAMA 


28 3 


8. California 


25 


9. Virginia 


21 8 


10. Louisiana 


91 t 


11. Kentucky 


21.1 
21.0 
20.8 
?0.0 
18.6 

18.3 
16.0 
15.5 
15 2 


12. Ohio 


13. Mississippi 


14. New Jersey 


15. Oklahoma 


16. Maryland 


17. New York 


18. Georgia 


19. West Virginia 


20. North Carolina . 


13.8 





48 



Social Problems of Alabama 



MORTALITY OF CONVICTS IN 30 STATES*— Continued 





Number of Deaths 


Rate per 1,000 




White 


Colored 


White 1 Colored 


21. Texas 


12 

13 

6 

3 

9 

5 


27 

7 

8 

10 

6 

3 


8.6 
6.8 
5.0 
2.2 
4.6 

8.7 


12.7 


22. Illinois 


11.5 


23. U. S. Penitentiaries 


11.4 


24. Missouri 


10.8 


25. Pennsylvania 


10.2 


30. Kansas 


9.7 




' 




Total, 30 States | 212 


500 


8.3 


21.1 



*TT. 

1910. 



S. Bureau of the Census, Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents, 



The foregoing statement shows that while the average 
negro death rate was 21.1 per 1,000, in Alabama it was 28.3. 
In the 30 states Alabama had 13 per cent of the negro con- 
victs and 17 per cent of the deaths. She stands seventh in 
the ratio of negro mortality ; but of the six states preceding, 
two had only three negro deaths each. On the other hand, 
Alabama stands eighteenth in the ratio of deaths of white 
convicts; her average being 7.2 per 1,000 as against a gen- 
eral average of 8.3. 

Notwithstanding the excellent sanitorium at Wetumpka 
for tuberculous prisoners, the death rate from tuberculosis 
and pneumonia is still very high. In the four years ending 
1914, 42 per cent of the deaths were from tuberculosis and 
pneumonia; and in the four years ending 1914, 44 per cent. 

The deaths from typhoid fever are remarkably uniform, 
averaging four per cent for each of the four year periods. 
I learned that typhoid fever was prevalent in some camps 
at the time of my visit, and was surprised to learn that the 
earlier practice of innoculating for typhoid fever had been 
abandoned. 



Length of Prison Sentences 

The Alabama prisons contain an extraordinary number of 
long term prisoners, as is indicated by the following table : 



Social Problems of Alabama 49 

Sentenced for life 503 

Sentenced for 99 years 10 

Sentenced for 75 years 3 

Sentenced for 60 years 2 

Sentenced for 50 years 25 

Total for 50 years or more 543 

Sentenced for 35 to 45 years 57 

Sentenced for 25 to 35 years 150 

Sentenced for 20 to 24 years 211 

Sentenced for 15 to 19 years 163 

Sentenced for 10 to 14 years 440 

Total 10 to 45 years 1,019 

Total for 10 years or more .' 1,562 

Sentenced for 5 to 9 years 397 

Sentenced for 1 to 4^ years 506 

Total under ten years '. 903 



Grand total ..... 2,465 

This table shows that 22 per cent of the prisoners have 
sentences of 50 years or more; 41 per cent have sentences 
of 10 to 45 years. 

The effect of prohibition and the war has' been to reduce 
the number of commitments about 50 per cent, but the 
decrease of the penitentiary population has been slow be- 
cause of the large number of long term prisoners, but it will 
doubtles| continue with the steady decrease of crime result- 
ing from prohibition. 

The number of prisoners in the county jails of Ala- 
bama September 13, 1915, was 1,424; September 15, 1917, 
765, a reduction of 46 per cent. In the city of Birmingham 
a jail was built about four years ago for county prisoners 
serving sentences. In 1915 this jail contained about 350 
prisoners. I visited the jail in August, 1918, and found it 
standing deserted and empty. The prisoners have been 
transferred to the old city jail, which contained between 
40 to 50 prisoners, less than one-seventh of the population 
three years ago. Since that time the jail has been turned 
over to the juvenile court and is being refitted to provide 
court rooms, a detention home, and special schools for truant 
and backward children. In Mobile county I visited, in 
October, 1918, two road camps, and found 28 prisoners 



50 Social Problems of Alabama 

instead of 50 to 60 prisoners, which was formerly the num- 
ber. The prison population would be still further reduced 
if it were not for the number who-are sentenced for offenses 
against the prohibitory law. Public officials complain of 
the lack of sufficient prisoners" /to do the public work, but 
this is a loss which the people of. ^the State will endure with 
great philosophy. "1 v i 

'a 

Personal Earnings of Prisoners 

The law governing the Board of Convict Inspectors, Sec- 
tion 6,531, provides that "Convicts may be allowed to work 
for themselves after the performance of their daily tasks, 
in such manner as may be prescribed by the rules of the 
board of inspectors, and the proceeds of such labor shall 
be disposed of as the board shall provide by rulef" The 
operation of this law is very unequal.;. At the coal mines the 
prisoners have an opportunity to we^k after finishing their 
task. At the Flat Top mine, it is stated that probably two- 
thirds of the men earn from $3 to $20 a mon^h extfia, and 
sometimes even $30 or $40 a month. There* are Similar 
earnings from over work at the other mines. There is also 
opportunity for earning extra money at the Tuscaldfesa camp 
where some men earn as high as $15 or even $20 monthly. 

At the "Walls" at Wetumpka and at the S&te farms, 
there is no opportunity for earning extra money. At the 
State cotton mills at Speigner, there was no opportunity to 
earn money by overtime; but in the summg4'*of 1918* the 
State had a contract to supply cotton cloth for government 
use. In order to increase the output, the convicts volun- 
tarily consented that the hours of labor should be increased 
from Hi/2 hours to 13 V2 hours per day; but the prisoners 
were paid extra for the two hours overtime at the rate of 
$1.00 per week. It amounted in June, 1916, to $847.00 and 
in October, 1918, to $743.00, averaging about $6.50 per con- 
vict. 

On September 1, 1918, the hours per day were reduced to 
the usual rate, 11 1/2 hours, but the result of the extra allow- 
ance of $1.00 per week in improving the industry, interest 
and conduct of the prisoners had been so good that it was 



Social Problems of Alabama 51 

decided to continue the allowance at the same rate. This 
payment comes from the revenue of the cotton mill. 

A Moral Hazard 

The system of leasing prisoners for working coal mines 
as practiced in Alabama is objectionable, not only because 
of the extraordinary hazards to the life and limbs of the 
prisoners but also because it carries a moral hazard which 
is even worse. 

In all prisons there is a tendency to the development of 
the grossest and most destructive forms of immorality. 
Only the best discipline and the utmost vigilance can check 
this tendency. The lease system in the coal mines gives an 
extraordinary opportunity for the development of these evil 
practices for the reason that the men necessarily work in 
small groups of from two to six men in remote parts of the 
mine where they can not be kept under the immediate 
observation of the prison officers. But the opportunity for 
such practices is greatly increased by the fact that, in the 
effort to prevent abuses by withholding from the mine fore- 
men authority over the prisoners, they no longer have the 
power or the disposition to attempt to curb this evil. I 
learned that there is practically no effort to control it in the 
mines. If prisoners are discovered in misconduct they are 
reported and punished, but such discovery, if it occurs, is 
accidental. From such information as I received, I believe 
that this evil is very widespread. I have reason to believe 
that it probably involves not less than 25 per cent of tne 
convicts. 

The destructive effect of these vices is not confined to the 
mining camps. The prisoners upon discharge carry with 
them the monstrous habits which they have acquired in the 
prison and spread them in the outside community. Their 
victims are usually young boys or men of feeble mind, and 
the destructive effect upon the community is incalculable. 

The experience of Alabama is not peculiar in this respect. 
Similar trouble occurs wherever prisoners are employed in 
mines, even under more favorable conditions as to discipline. 
I believe that this fact constitutes an insuperable objection 



52 Social Problems of Alabama 

to the employment of prisoners in coal mines; but if such 
employment is to be continued, the lease system should be 
abandoned and the state should open up mines of this kind 
under the power conferred by the law in section 6484, which 
provides that the "convict inspectors, with the approval of 
the Governor, may employ any male convicts, suited physi- 
cally to do such work, in the mining of coal upon lands 
acquired by the State, by lease or otherwise." If the State 
were to work its own mines on State account, the prison 
officers would be able to exercise a better control over the 
convicts than is now possible, though it will always be im- 
possible to maintain proper supervision of prisoners in coal 
mines. This would be possible without new legislation, be- 
cause section 6568 provides that "Any part of the net income 
from the hire or labor of State convicts, may, with the 
approval of the Governor, be applied to permanent improve- 
ments or manufacturing * * * looking to the more 
permanent employment of the convicts of different classes." 

Dormitories 

The evil referred to is aggravated by the condition of the 
dormitories at the mines. In those which I saw the pris- 
oners slept upon double beds suspended by wires from the 
ceiling. The sleeping of two prisoners in a bed is abso- 
lutely wrong and should not be tolerated under any circum- 
stance. This is recognized by the Board of Inspectors in 
their book on Rules and Regulations No. 29, where they 
say: "All new camps or prisons shall be provided with 
single beds * * * and in no case shall more than one 
convict occupy the same bed. * * * It shall be the duty 
of the Convict Board to further conserve this rule by intro- 
ducing this system of lodging through the convict system as 
soon as practicable. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Turpentine Camps 

From this point of view, work in the lumber and turpen- 
tine camps is preferable to mining. But I find that experi- 
enced observers generally agree that the work of the turpen- 
tine camps is extraordinarily severe. I received this testi- 
mony from intelligent officers both in Florida and in Ala- 



Social Problems of Alabama 53 

bama. One of the State officers in charge of convicts in 
Florida said to me: "The work of the turpentine camp is 
very severe. We do not employ white convicts at this work ; 
they will not stand for it. If we have a long-time prisoner 
we do not keep him on this work longer than ten years. At 
the end of that time he is broken down anyhow." Two 
prison officers in Alabama, experienced in this work, agreed 
with this view. One said : "If one of the men working in 
the turpentine camp gets sick it is very hard to bring him up 
again." 

It is the duty of the men in the turpentine camps to score 
weekly the pine trees from which turpentine is obtained. 
The scoring consists in making a fresh curved incision one- 
quarter inch wide, one-half inch deep and about 15 inches 
long. The ordinary task is for each prisoner to score 9,000 
trees per week which amounts to 1,500 each day. If the 
prisoner works 10 hours per day, that means that in 6,000 
minutes he must attend to 1,500 trees, which is an average 
of one every four minutes, all day long. 

I watched the work of a gang of men in the turpentine 
forest and I should say that they were moving at the rate of 
three miles per hour. I learned that the prisoners started 
from the camp soon after six o'clock in the morning. I saw 
a gang of prisoners marching back to the camp after six 
o'clock at night and they had still about four miles to go. 

The State Account System 

The cotton mill at Speigner and the State farms are 
worked on the State account system. The cotton mill has 
not always been profitable, but at the present time, it is 
bringing in a large revenue to the State. 

As already stated, at the time of the visit, the prisoners, 
male and female, were working 13 V2 hours per day. 

The prisoners showed the effect of the extra exertion ; but 
a considerable number of them were apparently actuated by 
a patriotic desire to meet the demands of the government, 
and they were stimulated also by the extra allowance for 
overtime. 

The mill employs 155 convicts and the profits for the 
current year ending September 30th amounted to $227,000. 



54 Social Problems of Alabama 

The superintendent of the mill appeared to be earnestly 
interested in the prisoners. He stated that in his judgment 
the labor of the prisoners was worth fully 80 per cent of the 
labor of free operatives. On that basis, according to the 
wages paid outside labor, the prisoners must have been 
earning for the State at least $2 each per day. I saw negro 
women free laborers at Chickasaw who were earning $2.50 
and were probably not more efficient than the men and 
women employed by the cotton mill. 

The living conditions at Speigner are very unsatisfactory. 
The dormitory buildings are dilapidated and insanitary. 
The kitchen and dining room accommodations were meager, 
and the hospital was inferior. 

Women at Speigner Cotton Mill 

The most objectionable feature of the cotton mill was the 
association of white men, negro men and negro women in the 
same shop and the same room. This arrangement is con- 
trary to the law and contrary to the regulations established 
by the Board of Inspectors (Rule 33.) 

I learned that this association of the prisoners of differ- 
ent colors and sexes was the chief cause of disciplinary 
troubles and punishments constituting a continual source of 
discipline. Any experienced observer upon entering the 
shop could discover immediately a certain tension in the 
atmosphere arising from this cause. 

One of two things should be done: either the women 
should be removed entirely from the cotton mill and engaged 
in some outside employment; or the women should be 
worked in a distinct and separate room from the men. The 
best way of all would be to establish a prison for women at 
a distance from any prison for men. 

It is true at Speigner, as it is in prisons generally, that 
the women are worse than the men. Judges are usually 
unwilling to send women to prison unless they are known 
to be thoroughly vicious and depraved. 

The cotton mill is a legitimate and profitable prison indus- 
try. It can furnish employment for an unlimited number 



Social Problems of Alabama 55 

of prisoners. But if it is to become a permanent State 
industry, both the prison and the cotton mill should be com- 
pletely rebuilt and put into first-class condition. The women 
should be absolutely removed from the cotton mill and a 
reformatory prison should be established on a separate farm 
at a distance from any male prison. The women should 
have employment at farming and dairying. There should 
also be employment at sewing or other indoor industries for 
winter. 

General farming should be abandoned at Speigner and the 
farming industries should be restricted to gardening, horti- 
culture, truck farming and dairying. A first-class cotton 
mill man of the type of the present superintendent of the 
State cotton mill should be appointed as warden and should 
be paid a salary such as would be paid in an outside cotton 
mill for a superintendent. 

The cotton mill has earned $227,000 net the past year by 
the labor of 155 convicts, which is at the rate of $1,450 per 
convict. I doubt whether that record has ever been equaled 
by any similar institution. Alabama can afford to take care 
of the Speigner prison and the Speigner prisoners ; she can- 
not afford not to. 

The recommendations above made are in accord with the 
recommendations of President Matthews of the Board of 
Convict Inspectors. He proposes that the new cotton mill 
and prison shall be built by the labor of the convicts out of 
concrete blocks which are the most economical building ma- 
terial available. This recommendation is entirely practical 
and I endorse it. 

The State maintains several State farms, of which the 
most important are State farm number four near Mont- 
gomery, and the farm at Speigner. 

There is a strong movement throughout the country at 
the present time, in favor of farming as a prison industry. 
The State of Louisiana is carrying on a large farming enter- 
prise with apparent success. The State of Florida, about 
four years ago, opened up a farm 17,500 acres in eastern 
Florida, which has been operated with extraordinary ef- 
ficiency by Warden Purvis. 



56 Social Problems of Alabama 

Farming As a Convict Industry 

The State farms ought to be the best farms in the State 
as an example and demonstration to the private' farms; but 
it is impossible in these days to get money out of the farm 
unless it is put into it. 

The farming operations of the Alabama Board of Inspec- 
tors have not been very successful for several reasons : First, 
for lack of good land ; some of the farming land is very poor ; 
some of the good land is bottom land where crops have been 
frequently lost by flood. The inferior quality of the farm- 
ing land is indicated in Section 6481 of the prison law which 
says. "The Board of Convict Inspectors * * * may sell 
any or all of the agricultural lands now used by the State 
in working convicts * * * and purchase lands superior 
in quality." 

Second, for lack of proper machinery, utensils, and scien- 
tific methods. 

Third, because few, if any, able-bodied prisoners are sent 
to the farms. The most efficient prisoners are either held by 
the counties to work on county roads, or are leased by the 
State to contractors; while the inefficient and incapable 
men are worked at the prison farms. 

The State farms have been of great value in furnishing 
an abundant supply of fresh vegetables, but they have not 
been especially profitable from a financial point of view. 

I would urge that the Board of Inspectors in exercise of 
the powers conferred upon them by law, purchase a first- 
class farm of 4,000 or 5,000 acres; equip it with modern 
farm machinery and tractors ; put it in charge of a practical 
farmer who has demonstrated his ability in actual planta- 
tion work, and pay him an adequate salary. Then let them 
assign to the farm 50 or 100 first-class convicts and keep 
accurate accounts of the operation of the farm, by the thor- 
ough system of accounting which has been established in the 
state of New York, and thus make a practical demonstration 
of the practicability of profitable farming with State con- 
victs. 

A careful inspection and study of the State farms in 
Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida will enable them to form 
an intelligent judgment with reference to this matter. 



Social Problems of Alabama 57 

Work on Public Roads 

Work on public roads as well as farming has been advo- 
cated by many as a substitute for the convict lease system. 

Road work is now being used as a form of prison labor 
in many states. In some states it is profitable and success- 
ful, while in others it is unprofitable, depending upon the 
plans of organization and methods of administration. 

It should be borne in mind that prisoners employed on 
public works may be abused, neglected or overworked, as 
well as prisoners leased out to contractors. 

I saw two gangs of prisoners engaged in county road 
work in one county of Alabama. These prisoners were do- 
ing reasonably good work. As compared with ordinary 
free labor, they were probably earning $2 daily per man. 

I visited the quarters occupied by these prisoners and 
their officers. The dormitories were dirty, the bedding was 
filthy, and the kitchen was repulsive. At one camp the 
officers had comparatively well-kept tents ; but the food was 
badly prepared and badly served. Apparently, nothing was 
done to provide proper sanitation. At one camp, the pris- 
oners slept in steel road-cages, which were similar to the 
cages used for circus animals, except that they did not 
afford the amount of privacy which would be given to a 
respectable lion, tiger, or bear. 

Road work is a perfectly legitimate method of employing 
prisoners, provided the officers and guards are competent, 
and the camps are maintained in proper condition ; but my 
observation of movable camps is that it is a rare thing to 
find one where there is any suitable application of reforma- 
tory methods. 

Discipline of the Convicts 
In what I say about the discipline of the State convicts I 
shall not reflect upon any of the State officers in charge. 
They seemed to me for the most part to be humane and 
kindly disposed, and to have an interest in the welfare of 
their charges. Neither shall I reflect upon the employees 
of the contractors, who also seemed to have a kindly attitude 
toward the men, tempered inevitably by their obligation to 
secure as good service as possible for their employers. 



58 Social Problems of Alabama 

Two Unfavorable Circumstances 

As I have indicated, the discipline is inevitably affected 
unfavorably by two circumstances: first, the lease system, 
under which the leading object is to secure as large a reve- 
nue as possible for the State and as large a profit as pos- 
sible for the contractor ; second, to the division of authority 
resulting from the effort to mitigate the evils of the lease 
system, whereby the prison warden can not exercise author- 
ity over his men during working hours because he is not 
with them, and the contractors' agent can not exercise au- 
thority because he has none. The result is the demoraliza- 
tion of the prisoner. 

Private Earnings of Prisoners 

The custom prevails of allowing the prisoners to earn 
extra money by over-time. The law provides that the "pro- 
ceeds of such labor shall be disposed of as the Board shall 
provide by rule." During the past four years the prisoners 
in the four camps in the mining district have earned and 
received $143,595 for extra labor and extra coal. Some pris- 
oners have earned as much as $40 to $50 per month. 

These extra earnings are produced by the self-denying 
labor of the prisoners, after they have already done a regu- 
lar day's work ; in many cases having first earned $3 per day 
for the State. Prisoners earn in this way from $3 to $20 
per month for themselves. Prisoners greatly value the op- 
portunity for such extra earnings, and it is possible to make 
this privilege a means of great improvement in their con- 
duct. I was informed that prisoners at the mines greatly 
preferred that employment because it gave opportunity for 
earning. This proved to be only partly true. Many pris- 
oners do prefer mining, while others would rather relinquish 
their earning privilege than to work under ground. It 
depends on the disposition of the prisoner and his fitness 
for mining. 

The prisoners are allowed to spend these earnings in any 
way they choose. They may send them to their families, or 
buy liberty bonds, or soft drinks, candies, tobacco, canned 
goods, and so forth. They may purchase underclothing for 



Social Problems of Alabama 59 

present wear, or other clothing for wear after discharge. 
Some prisoners buy silk shirts, eight-dollar hats, twelve-dol- 
lar shoes, and thirty-dollar suits. I learned, to my surprise, 
that the prisoners are allowed to gamble at will. Prison 
officers said that it was natural for prisoners to gamble, 
and that they would rather use their money in that way than 
in any other way. Gambling is an offense against the law, 
and many men are sent to prison for gambling. It does not 
seem consistent to allow prisoners to do in prison that for 
which they may be sent back to prison after their discharge. 
The very fact that gambling is a common vice among pris- 
oners is an indication of its deleterious effect. 

These men go to prison because they are reckless, improv- 
ident, intemperate, spendthrift and vicious, and there is no 
vice which contributes more directly to these faults than 
gambling. 

I can see no reason why the prison authorities should not 
require all earnings of prisoners to be deposited with the 
prison clerk, and to be withdrawn only on requisition, ap- 
proved by the proper prison officer. 

I can see no objection to the expenditure of a portion of 
these earnings for harmless luxuries, such as confectionery 
and soft drinks ; but it appears entirely reasonable to compel 
the prisoner who has a family or dependent relatives to 
devote a portion of his earnings to their benefit. We require 
the soldier in France to turn over half of his earnings to 
his wife. Why should we not require as much of the pris- 
oner? 

I can see no reason why the prisoner who has no de- 
pendent relatives should not be required to lay aside a por- 
tion of his earnings as a fund to be used for his own benefit 
after his discharge. This money would doubtless benefit 
him much more if paid to him in monthly installments after 
his discharge rather than in a lump sum. 

Industrious Habits Acquirable 

These prisoners are capable of acquiring industrious hab- 
its, as is proven by the fact that many of them continue to 
be miners after their discharge. When the State has as- 



60 Social Problems of Alabama 

sumed entire responsibility for a man throughout a period 
of one, two, five, or ten years it should certainly make an 
effort to reform him, and to restore him to society in such 
condition that he is likely to continue to be a producer rather 
than to be a parasite. 

The impression seemed to prevail among prison officers 
that unless the prisoners were allowed to spend the money 
as they would, even to the point of gambling with it, they 
would lose all incentive to exert themselves, either in behalf 
of the State or in their own behalf. My observation of many 
prisons convinces me that this is a mistake, and that the 
prisoner will exert himself quite as earnestly if he knows 
that the greater part of his earnings are to be devoted to his 
family, or saved for his own future use. 

Prisoners a Profitable Asset 

The State prisoners are a distinct asset to the State, as is 
seen by the fact that, leaving out of account the 750 pris- 
oners who are physically or mentally unable to earn any- 
thing for the State, the remaining 2,250 turned into the 
State treasury during the past year $750,000 over and above 
the cost of their maintenance, an average of $333 per man. 

We must not lose sight of the fact that if these men are 
of value to the State in prison, they may be of much more 
value after their release. The man who earns $3 a day in 
prison can earn $4 per day out of prison, which will be used 
in supporting his family and meeting his obligation as a 
citizen. 

Reformatory Measures Lacking 

What is the State of Alabama doing for the reformation 
of these men? Thirty-two hundred State convicts, during 
the past four years, have been scattered throughout 13 dif- 
ferent prisons and camps in different parts of the State. 
The State employs a chaplain at $1,500 per year, and the 
rules of the Board of Inspectors prescribe that the chaplain 
"shall devote his entire time to the spiritual needs of the 
convicts, and shall preach to them as frequently as he con- 
veniently can." The Inspectors appropriate $500 addi- 



Social Problems of Alabama 61 

tional, which is divided among four assistant chaplains. The 
chaplain may reasonably be expected to preach 100 sermons 
per year. If the assistant chaplains receive $5 per sermon, 
that would provide 100 additional sermons, making a total 
of 200 sermons for 12 camps, which would provide 18 ser- 
mons a year for each camp. I find that it is the practice to 
allow negro convicts who are preachers to discourse to their 
fellows in the absence of the chaplain or his assistants. The 
value of this kind of ministration, except as a form of enter- 
tainment, would seem to be questionable. 

The chief value of the work of a prison chaplain is his 
personal contact with the men, and his personal influence 
upon them individually. The chaplain can accomplish but 
little of this work among so many prisons, and the assistant 
chaplains, who have charges of their own, can not be ex- 
pected to do it. 

I did not find at any of the camps which I visited any 
prison school, any Sunday School, nor, except at Speigner, 
any provision for recreation. I did not find a library, though 
in some camps magazines are supplied by interested neigh- 
bors. The idea seemed to prevail that when prisoners came 
out of the mine they were too weary to desire any out-door 
sport; but my observation is that however hard the work 
may be, the prisoners welcome an opportunity for out-door 
sport, and that such recreation, if properly regulated, pro- 
duces a wholesome effect upon them. 

In view of the financial product of the prisoners, it ap- 
pears to me that they have a reasonable claim upon the 
State to meet these educational and recreational needs. 

A Voice From the Grave 

These unfortunate conditions have long been recognized. 
Twenty-five years ago, in 1893, an eminent citizen of Ala- 
bama, beloved and admired far beyond its borders, Miss 
Julia S. Tutwiler, made a unique report on the social condi- 
tions of Alabama, which she put in the form of a Methodist 
class meeting, in which "Sister Alabama" speaks. 

Among other things, she said: "My convict system is 
entering upon a period of transition. * * * In the days 



62 Social Problems of Alabama 

of my deep poverty, through utter inability to feed and 
clothe my wayward children, I was compelled to adopt the 
lease system, which has been well described as one that com- 
bines all the evils of slavery without one of its ameliorating 
features. * * * In my domain alone this system has been 
lightened by the establishment of night schools, taught by 
Christian prison missionaries, who also have charge of daily 
hospital services, of Sunday schools, and the Prison Chris- 
tian Association. The inadequate number of teachers and 
the presence of two races which keep instinctively apart 
lessen very much the efficiency of these schools." 

It is to be regretted that the night schools to which Miss 
Tutwiler referred have been discontinued. 

Miss Tutwiler went on to comment on the absence of the 
juvenile reformatories, which have since been established 
in the State, and she closed as follows : "0, Sister Alabama, 
Sister Alabama! put on sackcloth and ashes, and weep and 
fast and pray that you may be forgiven for having treated 
your sons so ill that they have dared to weigh a human soul 
against the sparkling dust of earth which we call silver and 
gold."* 

THE BOARD OF INSPECTORS OF CONVICTS 

The Board of Inspectors of Convicts has a large responsi- 
bility. They have under their care about 3,000 convicts, 
located in 10 or 12 different camps. They have also a degree 
of responsibility for county convicts who work under the 
lease system. They are responsible also for shaping the 
general policy of the State with reference to convicts. They 
have authority to buy and sell land, to organize new plans 
for employing prisoners, to make and cancel contracts at 
discretion, and even to open and develop coal mines on State 
lands, if they deem it expedient. 

The Board of Inspectors controls the income from convict 
labor. They turned into the State treasury in 1917 $1,717,- 
000, and in 1918, $2,115,000, and produced a net revenue, 
over and above the cost of maintaining the convicts of $506,- 
000 in 1917 and $775,000 in 1918. . 

*Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction 
1903, p. 29. 



Social Problems of Alabama 63 

Prison management is a specialty and is a technical job. 
It calls on the one hand for a high order of business ability 
for the wise and economical handling of the revenues and, 
on the other hand, for a high* degree of technical skill in 
order to deal wisely with the human material which is com- 
mitted to their charge; and to adopt such methods and 
measures as shall not only make the prison labor profitable 
to the State, but shall also conserve the health of the pris- 
oners, shall train them for useful service in the community, 
shall provide proper moral and religious influences. 

It is impossible for inexperienced inspectors to perform 
successfully these reformatory duties. Even with the best 
will in the world, a certain amount of experience and of 
observation of reformatory methods in other states is indis- 
pensable. 

The most important duty of the Board of Inspectors is to 
establish such reformatory methods as shall return as many 
as possible of the prisoners to society with such improve- 
ment of character as shall make them law-abiding, indus- 
trious and useful citizens. This involves the establishment 
of Sunday schools and night schools, industrial training, 
wholesome recreation, decent living conditions, classification 
of prisoners so as to prevent the contagion of vice and to 
establish a wholesome and cheerful spirit among the prison- 
ers. 

Under the present law, the greatest burden of responsi- 
bility rests upon the president of the Board of Inspectors, 
who is its chief executive officer. In the past four years 
there have been four presidents of this Board, three of whom 
have retired after a brief term of service. The present 
president of the Board is keen, energetic, studious, and ap- 
pears to have an earnest desire to bring the convict system 
up to modern standards of efficiency, humanity, and reform- 
atory work. He has had a training at the cost of the State 
which has greatly increased his efficiency and value. He 
appears to have a thorough understanding of the business 
end of the proposition, and to be earnestly studying the 
penological part of it. 

I think that it is fair to say that he is worth $5,000 more 
per year, as a public servant, than he was when he entered 



64 Social Problems of Alabama 

upon his present job. If past policies prevail, he will 
be dismissed on the first of January to give place to another 
man, chosen, not because he is better qualified to do the 
work, but because he has rendered useful political service, 
or because he is personally agreeable to the new adminis- 
tration. 

I have very little acquaintance with the present president 
of the Alabama Board of Inspectors and I have no personal 
interest in him whatever, but I am frank to say that I be- 
lieve that it would be an expensive mistake to supersede him 
unless there should be available a man thoroughly qualified 
by training and experience in prison administration, to take 
his place. 

I did not meet either of the other two inspectors, and 
have had no observation which would enable me to form an 
intelligent opinion as to their special qualifications for their 
work ; but the same general principle prevails, namely, that 
it is a mistake to substitute an inexperienced man for an 
experienced man on an expert job ; and if those two men are 
as good as they ought to be, it will be for the interest of the 
State to retain them. 

The physician inspector should be an expert in physical 
examination and diagnosis. He should thoroughly under- 
stand the standards of sanitation and of hospital equipment, 
organization and administration, and should be a man of 
high standing in his profession. T-he associate inspector 
should be a man of practical business experience with knowl- 
edge of human nature and should be qualified to act as an 
intelligent associate and counsellor of the president of the 
Board. He should by no means be a figurehead. 

Prison Wardens 

The prison wardens should be men of sterling character, 
and experienced in selecting and directing subordinates. 
They should be men with a natural gift for handling pris- 
oners, and should be able to control them with little or no 
corporal punishment. I was interested to discover that at 
Wetumpka — (the Walls) — corporal punishment has practi- 
cally been abolished. Some one remarked that this was easy 



Social Problems of Alabama 65 

"because of the absence of the labor problem which exists in 
the other institutions under the Board of Inspectors. As a 
matter of fact, it is often more difficult to maintain good 
discipline in an institution where many of the inmates are 
idle than in one where they are all of them regularly em- 
ployed. Many people suppose that corporal punishment is 
indispensable for the control of prisoners who are ignorant 
and debased, but it has been demonstrated that ignorant 
prisoners can be controlled without corporal punishment by 
officers of the right temper -and training. Some prison of- 
ficers, like some school teachers, seem unable to maintain 
good discipline without it. There is a marked difference in 
the amount of corporal punishment in the different camps, 
and I believe that this difference is to be explained as above 
stated. 

The State Prison Inspector 

The State Prison Inspector is not, as his title would seem 
to imply, an inspector of State prisons, nor indeed is he 
exclusively an inspector of prisons. He is an inspector of 
jails, almshouse and other institutions. 

For some reason which I do not understand, the work 
of this officer has been restricted, almost entirely, to jail 
inspection, while the inspection of almshouses is entirely 
secondary. It is very important to protect the interests of 
the prisoners and the other inmates of county jails, but it is 
certainly equally important to protect the helpless inmates 
of the poor houses. I inspected a considerable number of 
jails and poor houses, and I was painfully impressed with 
the difference between the efficiency of the jails and the 
deficiency of the poor houses. The county jail system of 
Alabama has been improved probably at least 50 per cent 
by the work of the prison commissioner, and there is no 
doubt that a similar improvement may be made in the condi- 
tion of the almshouses by the same kind of work. I am 
very glad, therefore, to learn that the newly appointed State 
inspector is addressing himself to the improvement of the 
almshouses. 

The State Prison Inspector should have authority to in- 
spect the county convict camps, the county prisoners who 



66 Social Problems of Alabama 

are leased out and the State convict camps. The prison 
officers who are striving for good administration will wel- 
come his advice and co-operation. Those who either through 
ignorance or indifference are making no effort in this direc- 
tion will be stimulated to such improvements as have already 
been made in county jail administration. 

A State Board of Public Welfare 

It appears most desirable that the office of the State 
Prison Inspector shall be so reorganized as to assume the 
duties of a State board of public welfare with powers and 
duties similar to those of the_ North Carolina State Board 
of Public Welfare and other similar boards. It should cover 
the entire system of charitable and correctional institutions, 
public and private, together with the administration of the 
child labor law, throughout the State. 

The powers of this board, like those of the present State 
prison inspection, should be advisory and not administra- 
tive, with one exception. The board should have adminis- 
trative power to deal with the interests of dependent and 
neglected children : such power as is possessed by the state 
boards of charities in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, Ohio, Indiana and California and the state boards of 
children's guardians in New Jersey and the District of 
Columbia. 

The powers of this board with reference to dependent and 
neglected children should include: authority to pass upon 
applications for charters for children's institutions ; author- 
ity to issue or withhold an annual certificate to every child 
welfare institution and society in the State; authority to 
establish a State bureau for the physical and mental exami- 
nation of dependent and neglected children; authority to 
act as guardians of dependent and neglected children who 
are not otherwise provided for, and to place such children 
in family homes or to commit them to suitable institutions. 

This board should have authority to inspect all charitable 
and philanthropic institutions in the State, to prescribe 
forms of registration and report and to make investigations 
when necessary. 



Social Problems of Alabama 67 

The board of public welfare should consist of four men 
and two women appointed by the Governor, to serve with- 
out pay, but their expenses should be paid. The members 
should have a six-year term, one to go out each year. They 
should have authority to appoint an executive secretary 
who should be a trained social worker selected solely with 
reference to his fitness for the job. He should be selected 
like a school superintendent, wherever the best man can be 
found in the United States. His salary should be sufficient 
to command the services of a first-class man. Subordinate 
employees of the board should be appointed by the execu- 
tive secretary, subject to the approval of the board. It is 
desirable that the secretary and his subordinates should be 
selected by a civil service examination. 

The present State Prison Inspector is nominally working 
under the State Board of Health, but he is not appointed by 
that board and his department is, in reality, independent. 
The State board of public welfare should work in close har- 
mony with the State Board of Health but there is no advan- 
tage in making it subordinate. The departments of public 
health and public welfare are each important enough to 
stand alone. 

The State board of public welfare would cover the sub- 
jects of dependents (including almshouses and poor relief, 
sanatoria for tuberculosis, child-helping societies, orphan- 
ages and children's homes) ; delinquents (including prisons, 
State convict camps, county jails, county convict camps, ju- 
venile reformatories, juvenile courts, probation and the 
parole system) ; defectives (including insane, feeble-minded, 
epileptics, cripples and incurables) ; also the administration 
of the child labor law. 

THE PAROLE SYSTEM 

I earnestly commend the system of paroles which has 
been developed under your administration and which is 
directly in line of the most modern and beneficial prison 
reform. 

You have instituted two kinds of paroles : first the tem- 
porary parole under which you have permitted well-behaved 



68 Social Problems of Alabama 

and deserving convicts to go to their homes in order to 
attend a funeral or to visit a sick friend or to assist in farm 
work. The results of this plan have been amazing. The 
president of the Board of Convict Inspectors reports that 
"out of the 585 temporary paroles issued by you, only five 
violated their paroles and failed to return," and that "when 
a man returns from a temporary parole he comes back like 
a new man and makes a better prisoner." 

This experience demonstrates the fact that has been 
proven in many prisons in recent years, namely, that pris- 
oners, like other people, when they are trusted usually 
make good. On the other hand if they are treated with doubt 
and suspicion they are likely to justify the suspicion. 

The second form of parole which you have instituted is 
the permanent parole, or conditional pardon, under which 
prisoners who are especially deserving or whose cases pre- 
sent mitigating circumstances, such as previous good char- 
acter, extraordinary provocation or excessive sentences, are 
released, subject to re-arrest in case of violation of the con- 
ditions prescribed in the parole. 

I understand that it has been your practice to grant per- 
manent paroles only to such prisoners as are believed to 
have acquired such a character that there is good reason to 
anticipate that they will lead upright and honorable lives and 
make good citizens. I understand also that you have some- 
times paroled other prisoners, shortly before the expiration 
of their sentences, in order to exercise a restraint upon their 
subsequent conduct. 

So far as I am informed the systematic use of the perma- 
nent parole system was first instituted about 25 years ago 
by Governor William R. Merriam, of Minnesota, on my own 
recommendation. He notified the board of inspectors that he 
would establish such a system on the following conditions : 

1. All applications for parole to be presented to the board 
of inspectors through the warden and to be granted by the 
governor on recommendation of four out of five members of 
the board. 

2. The board to establish a system of grades and marks in 
order to promote reformation and to assist in judging the 
prisoner's character. 



Social Problems of Alabama 69 

3. The board not to receive any petitions or hear any 
argument from any outside party with reference to the 
parole. 

4. The sole question to be considered by the board to be : 
has the prisoner established such character that there is 
good reason to believe that he will lead an upright and hon- 
orable life. 

5. Paroles to be conditioned on good behavior, total absti- 
nence and good company; subject to recommitment for vio- 
lation. 

6. Parole not to be granted until the prisoner had served 
at least one-half of his sentence. 

The plan worked so well in Minnesota that Governor (now 
U. S. Senator) Knute Nelson, who succeeded Governor Mer- 
riam, recommended the establishment of a parole system 
by law, which has prevailed ever since with excellent results. 

President Matthews, of the Board of Convict Inspectors, 
recommends the establishment of the indeterminate sentence 
and the parole system by law. Such laws have been passed 
by most of the states of the Union and there is general testi- 
mony as to their good results. I heartily concur in this 
recommendation. 

A PRISON PROGRAM 

I recommend the following prison programme : 

1. The passage of an act for the establishment of an 
adult probation system similar to the probation system 
already established for juvenile delinquents. 

2. An act establishing the indeterminate sentence and 
parole system along the lines already developed by the Gov- 
ernor through the use of conditional pardons or paroles. 

3. The establishment of a system of probation and parole 
officers to supervise adult prisoners placed on probation or 
parole. 

4. The abolition of all county camps and all leasing of 
county prisoners and the commitment of all prisoners sen- 
tenced for thirty days or more to the State penitentiary. 



70 Social Problems of Alabama 

5. Legislation for the abolition of the system of leasing 
prisoners for coal mines, turpentine camps or other work, 
as soon as other provision can be made. 

6. The establishment of two State farms, one for men and 
one for women on land of good quality, not subject to floods 
and with first-class farm machinery, tractors, etc. The 
dormitories and domestic departments should be of the type 
found at State Farm Number Four, but the buildings should 
be of better quality. Concrete floors should be used through- 
out. 

7. The reconstruction of the prison and cotton mill at 
Speigner in accordance with the recommendation of the 
president of the Board of Convict Inspectors. 

The cotton industry at Speigner should be organized on 
the principles contained in the bill introduced in Congress 
by Hon. Hoke Smith, of Georgia, and now pending, which 
provides : 

(a) That the factory shall be organized like other cotton 
mills. 

(b) That the product shall be sold at regular prices and 
that in fixing prices the labor of the convicts shall be in- 
cluded in the price at the same rate paid for similar labor 
outside. 

(c) That the convicts shall be placed on wages equal to 
those paid for free labor of equal value. 

(d) That the convicts shall be charged with the cost of 
their maintenance which shall be deducted from their wages. 

(e) That a suitable part of the wages of convicts shall be 
paid over for the maintenance of their dependent relatives, 
if any exist. 

(f) That if the convict has no dependent relatives his 
wages shall be deposited for his benefit to be paid after his 
discharge (preferably in monthly installments). 

8. The women convicts should be immediately removed 
from Speigner and placed upon a prison farm, at a dis- 
tance from any male prisoners. They should be placed in 
charge of women officers. Farming, gardening, horticul- 
ture, dairying and poultry-raising have been found to be 
excellent industries for women convicts. Prisons for women 



Social Problems of Alabama 71 

have been established on this basis in New York, New Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and other states. 

9. Convict prisons should be subject to the visitation and 
inspection of the State Prison Inspector. 

Child-Caring Institutions and Agencies 

I have not attempted to discuss the child-caring institu- 
tions of the State in detail because they are sufficiently cov- 
ered in the excellent report of Prof. Lee Bidgood, of the 
Alabama State University, which forms part of the general 
report of the National Child Labor Committee entitled, 
"Child Welfare in Alabama." Prof. Bidgood lists the fol- 
lowing institutions for dependent and neglected children : 

list of institutions 

Children on 
Institution and Location hand, 1918 

I. For defective children : 

Alabama School for the Deaf, Talladega 187 

Alabama School for the Blind, Talladega 102 

Alabama School for the Negro Deaf and Blind, Talladega 52 

341 

II. For Dependent Children : 

A. Municipal — 

City Welfare Home, Birmingham... 5 

5 

B. Private — 

1. Denominational : 

Alabama Maternity acd Infants' Home, Birmingham 42 

Alabama Methodist Orphanage, Selma 83 

Athenenm Orphans' Home (Catholic). Birmingham 103 

Church Home for Orphans (Episcopal), Mobile 43 

Louise Short Baptist Widows' and Orphans' Home of Ala- 
bama. Evergreen 166 

Orphans' Home of the Synod of Alabama (Presbyterian), 

Talladega 72 

St. Mary's Female Orphan Asylum (Catholic), Mobile 85 

St. Mary's Industrial School and Orphanage (Catholic), 

Mobile - 92 

Salvation Army Rescue Home, Birmingham 7 



2. Interdenominational or Undenominational : 

Colored Old Folks and Orphans' Home, Mobile.. 3 

Mercy Home, .Birmingham 83 

Mercy Home Industrial School for Girls, Birmingham 31 

Protestant Orphan Asylum, Mobile 54 

171 



72 Social Problems of Alabama 

Children on 
Institution and Location hand, 1918 

3. Fraternal : 

Alabama Masonic Home, Montgomery 128 

Alabama odd Fellows' Home, Cullman... 106 

234 

III. For Delinquent Children: 

A. State — 

Alabama Boys' Industrial School, Fast Lake. 375 

Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Law-Breakers, 

Mt. Meigs 298 

State Training School for Girls, Birmingham ." 

730 

B. Municipal — ■ 

Boys' Detention School, Mobile !> 

Girls' Detention Home, Mobile 3 

Detention Home of the Jefferson County Juvenile Court. 

Birmingham .") 

Detention Home of the Montgomery Juvenile Court, Mont- 
gomery 

17 

TOTALS 

For Defective Children 3 Institutions 341 

For Dependent Children If. Institutions 1.103 

For Delinquent Children 7 Institutions 747 

Grand Total 20 2,191 

I visited the three institutions for defectives at Talladega. 
It being vacation time, no pupils were present, but the gen- 
eral impression as to the administration and spirit of the 
three institutions was favorable. Each one of them, how- 
ever, is in need of additional equipment. The allowance 
per pupil for all three schools is $230 per year for each 
pupil. All repairs and improvements and, as a rule, all new 
buildings have to be paid for out of this allowance. This 
appropriation is inadequate, in view of the increased cost 
of living and salaries. The instruction in these schools is 
technical and requires teachers of special training who com- 
mand high salaries. In the state of New York the appro- 
priations for pupils in schools for the deaf were increased 
in 1916 to $350 and $375 per pupil, while the average weekly 
cost to support pupils in schools for the blind was $10.16 
per pupil, which would be at the rate of about $400 per year. 

Of the institutions for dependent children, I visited the 
Orphans' Home of the Synod of Alabama at Talladega, St. 



Social Problems of Alabama 73 

Mary's Female Orphan Asylum, St. Mary's Industrial School 
and Orphanage for Boys, and the Protestant Orphan Asylum 
at Mobile, the Mercy Home and Industrial School for Girls 
at Birmingham, and the Alabama Masonic Home at Mont- 
gomery. 

Of these institutions only two have adequate modern 
equipment, — the Mercy Home and Industrial School for 
Girls at Birmingham and the Masonic Home at Montgom- 
ery. The Mercy Home and Industrial School is admirable, 
both in its equipment and its administration. It is sup- 
ported by an appropriation of $5, COO per year from the 
State treasury, but is administered by a private board of 
trustees. The State appropriation of $5,000 is no longer 
sufficient. It should be increased. 

The Masonic Orphans' Home is a new institution. It has 
a beautiful auditorium building containing school rooms and 
a well-equipped hospital. The children's dormitories are 
not very satisfactory. There are very attractive separate 
cottages for the old people who are admitted to the Home. 
The children appeared to be happy and unconstrained. 

The Presbyterian Orphanage at Talladega is fairly well 
equipped. It has a good cottage for older boys and quite a 
good equipment for manual training. The Orphanage owns 
a farm of nearly 400 acres which produced last year an in- 
come of about $1,100 toward the support of the children. 

St. Mary's Female Orphan Asylum at Mobile has a de- 
lightful and wholesome atmosphere; but the buildings are 
old and meagerly equipped. The girls spend the summer 
at a summer home across the bay with great enjoyment and 
benefit to their health. The summer home has a private 
pier and an inviting bathing beach. 

St. Mary's Industrial School and Orphanage for Boys, at 
Mobile, occupies some ancient and worn-out buildings. The 
porches and fire escapes on the rear of the building were in 
a dangerous condition. The brothers appeared to be devoted 
to the boys and to maintain a cheerful spirit of good will. 

Alabama has 16 institutions for dependent children with 
a total of 1,189 children. This is a very small number for a 
state of 2,000,000 inhabitants. It amounts to 54 for each 



74 Social Problems of Alabama 

100,000 inhabitants; whereas the average for the United 
States is about 120 for each 100,000; and in the state of 
New York it amounts to about 330 for each 100,000. 

The people of Alabama can well afford to provide gener- 
ously for the orphanages which it has already started. They 
should see to it that each of them has complete modern 
equipment, and that the means are provided to give the 
children the best possible start in life. Alabama does not 
need to build any more orphanages for many years to come, 
except that there should be a good well-equipped orphanage 
for negro children who cannot be properly provided for in 
family homes. There is an immediate need of such an 
orphanage to care for 200 to 300 children. It might well be 
established and maintained by the State, or it might be 
organized by the Colored Federation of Women's Clubs and 
maintained by joint contributions of negroes and whites. 

If, however, Alabama is not to build additional orphan- 
ages it is indispensable that there shall be a well-organized 
society for placing children in family homes, similar in its 
plans and methods to the children's home societies of Ken- 
tucky, Florida and Mississippi, each of which is spending 
more than $50,000 per year in collecting, training and equip- 
ping homeless children and placing them in selected family 
homes. 

Such a society has recently been organized under the name 
of the Alabama Children's Aid Society with Hon. Samuel D. 
Murphy, Judge of the Juvenile Court of Birmingham as 
president. Under his intelligent leadership this society bids 
fair to take its place by the side of the three societies which 
have been mentioned. But the Alabama Children's Aid So- 
ciety cannot do efficient work unless it has adequate support. 
It should have an income of $25,0C0 for the year 1919, which 
should be gradually increased from year to year as the work 
develops. 

The Alabama Children's Aid Society is State-wide and 
undenominational. Its aim is to provide for the neglected 
or homeless children who are not otherwise provided for 
throughout the State, and it ought to have the co-operation 
and financial support of all good citizens of Alabama. 



Social Problems of Alabama 75 

DEPENDENT AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN 

The circuit courts, in the exercise of chancery powers, 
have original jurisdiction over dependent, neglected and 
delinquent children. The probate court has jurisdiction in 
the appointment of guardians and the apprenticing of chil- 
dren. Employers of labor are required to attend to sanita- 
tion and ventilation, to provide sanitary drinking fountains 
and toilets. The State Board of Health is authorized to 
adopt regulations for the prevention of infant mortality and 
for the collection of vital statistics. School authorities have 
power to require health certificates, to regulate dental hy- 
giene, and to provide for compulsory vaccination or other 
preventive measures. In a few communities these measures 
are effectively developed but in a greater part of the State, 
especially in rural districts, little has been accomplished. 

In Birmingham, the Children's Hospital was established 
in 1911. In many general hospitals, children's wards have 
been established. Excellent juvenile courts have been estab- 
lished in Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery. They are 
especially notable for the quality of the judges and the proba- 
tion officers, both white and negro (the judges and the pro- 
bation officers are the heart and soul of the juvenile court). 
The law defines "delinquency" very broadly and then de- 
clares that "generally, any child who so deports himself or 
is in such condition or surroundings or is under such im- 
proper or insufficient guardianship or control as to endanger 
the morals, health, or general welfare of said child, shall 
be deemed a ward of the State and entitled to its care and 
protection; and the State shall exercise its rights of guar- 
dianship and control over such child." 

This is a splendid bill of protection for neglected child- 
hood, but, at present, it is effective only in the five or six 
counties where probation officers have been appointed. It 
is commonly believed that probation officers are needed only 
in the larger cities, but really they are more needed in the 
rural counties because, in the city there are hospitals, or- 
phanages and societies which will do something for the 
child ; but in the country none of these organizations exist. 



76 Social Problems of Alabama 

The court is established by law in every county, and the 
American Bar Association uniform desertion law really 
makes the circuit court also a court of domestic relations 
with authority to pass upon all matters affecting child wel- 
fare, but many counties do not operate under the desertion 
law and the teeth of that law were taken out when the 
Supreme Court ruled that the part of , the law which pro- 
vided for the payment of the earnings of the prisoner to his 
wife for the maintenance of her household was uncon- 
stitutional. It is most desirable that a constitutional 
method should be provided whereby this beneficent provision 
of the law can be made effective. Under the present law a 
prisoner may be able to earn $20.00, or $30.00 a month for 
himself, and he may squander it upon silk shirts and Stet- 
son hats while his family is suffering at home. I would raise 
the question whether the present provision of the peniten- 
tiary law whereby the inspectors have authority to pre- 
scribe the use to be made of over-time earnings does not give 
them sufficient authority to require the prisoner to send 
part of his earnings to his family. It is certainly contrary 
to public policy that the man sent to prison for desertion 
should be allowed to earn money in prisons and use it exclu- 
sively for his own benefit while his wife and children are 
made paupers at home, to be maintained by public funds. 

Child Labor 

The Alabama Child Labor Committee was organized about 
1900. The National Child Labor Committee was organized in 
1904. In 1915, the Alabama State Legislature passed the 
present Child Labor Law. This prohibits the employment of 
children under fourteen years of age, in gainful occupations, 
except agriculture, domestic service and certain street 
occupation, such as newspaper selling. 

Children under 16 years of age are forbidden to work 
more than 11 hours daily, or 60 hours weekly; and they 
must attend school at least 8 weeks in the year. They must 
not be employed in dangerous occupations. Children under 
18 years of age cannot be employed as night messengers. 
Employment certificates are issued by school superintend- 



Social Problems of Alabama 77 

ents, or principals or their authorized agents. Owners of 
establishments where children are employed are required 
to make special provision for the protection of their health 
and morals. 

The enforcement of the law is committed to the State 
Prison Inspector who is also State Factory Inspector. This 
legislation, though valuable is very incomplete; but public 
sentiment is growing in favor of more effective legislation, 
which is advocated by many progressive employers. It is 
now seen that laws should be enacted to protect children 
employed in agriculture and domestic service, as well as 
manufacturing. 

Compulsory School Attendance 

Child labor laws and compulsory school attendance laws 
go hand in hand. If a child is forbidden to work he must 
go to school, not only to get an education, but also to keep 
from the temptations of the street. If he is required to 
go to school, the law must release him from labor, when 
school is in session. If children between the ages of 14 and 
16 are allowed to work, they should still have the privilege of 
part-time continuation school. 

Unfortunately the child labor law and the compulsory 
school attendance law of Alabama have not yet been harmon- 
ized. They do not agree as to ages and school periods and 
the school attendance law is subject to local option. The 
next forward step will be to make its application universal 
and to harmonize the two laws. 

The Child Welfare Survey By the National Child 
Labor Committee 

In the spring of 1918, the National Child Labor Commit- 
tee, by request, undertook a comprehensive survey of the 
child welfare activities of Alabama. This survey was made 
under the general supervision of Dr. Edward N. Clopper 
of the National Child Labor Committee, and under the im- 
mediate direction of Mr. W. A. Swift, of Greensboro, North 
Carolina. The field work was done and the reports of the 
different sections were written by the following named peo- 



78 Social Problems of Alabama 

pie, each of whom has exhibited the facts discovered in his 
department and has offered recommendations for legisla- 
tion and community action : 

I. Public Health, by J. H. McCormick, M. D., of the School 
of Medicine of the University of Alabama. 

II. Education, by James J. Doster, Dean of the School of 
Education, University of Alabama. 

III. Rural School Attendance, by Miss Eva Joffe, statisti- 
cian, of the National Child Labor Committee. 

IV. Child Labor Law Administration, by Miss Florence 
I. Taylor of the National Child Labor Committee. 

V. Juvenile Courts and Probation, by Mrs. W. L. Mur- 
dock, of Birmingham. 

VI. Child Caring Institutions and Home Finding, by Lee 
Bidgood, Professor of Economics, University of Alabama. 

VII. Recreation, by Miss Gladys M. Gleeson, of the Na- 
tional Child Labor Committee. 

VIII. Laws and Administration (a summary and discus- 
sion of the recommendations contained in the report). 

The reports submitted by the experts contain 100 recom- 
mendations, either for legislation or for action by public 
or private authorities, as follows : 

Primary Secondary 
Recom- Recom- 
mendations mendations 

I. Public Health 6 15 

II. Education 12 6 

IV. Child Labor Law Administration 11 

V. Juvenile Courts and Probation ...15 4 

VI. Child Caring Institutions 2 18 

VII. Recreation 4 7 

Total 50 50 

Perhaps no more important and significant public docu- 
ment has ever been published in Alabama than this report. 
Its 100 recommendations demand the careful study of every 
educator, every legislator and every intelligent citizen of 
the State. They should result in concrete legislation and 
improved administration. 



Social Problems of Alabama 79 

I concur in most of the recommendations, but it is not 
possible to discuss them in the narrow limits of this report. 
I can only urge their importance. 

Some of these recommendations call for immediate action ; 
some should materialize within the next two or four years ; 
others should develop gradually with the evolution of the 
social institutions of the State. Without attempting to indi- 
cate the order in which they should be developed I will 
simply mention 25, which seem to be of the most urgent 
importance : 

I. Public Health — 

(a) Enlargement of the scope of the State Board 
of Health. 

(b) Increase of its appropriation. 

(c) School medical inspection. 

(d) A model vital statistics law. 

II. Education — 

(a) State Board of Education. 

(b) Improved State financial policies to provide edu- 
cational funds. 

(c) Compulsory education. 

(d) Public kindergartens. 

(e) Full-time probation and truant officers. 

(f ) Provision for backward children. 

III. Juvenile Courts and Probation — 

(a) Combined probation and truant officers. (See 
II (e).) 

(b) Amend non-support law. 

(c) Forbid commitment of dependent children to 
institutions for delinquents. 

(d) Abolish apprenticeship. 

(e) A State Board of Public Welfare with Child Wel- 
fare Department. 

IV. Child. Labor Law Administration — 

(a) Conformity with State Education Law. 

(b) School attendance of working children. 

(c) Departmental agency to enforce child labor law. 



80 Social Problems of Alabama 

V. Child Caring Institutions — 

(a) An institution for feeble-minded. 

(b) A training school for negro girls. 

(c) Supervision of children in institutions. 

(d) A State Board of Public Welfare. (See III (e).) 

(e) A Children's Code Commission. 

VI. Recreation — 

(a) Organization of school recreation. 

(b) Park systems. 

(c) Regulation of commercial amusements, includ- 
ing dance halls and motion pictures. 

(d) Extension of recreation work to rural communi- 
ties. 



THE LABOR PROBLEM 

The labor problem in Alabama is more complicated than 
in any other Southern state because of the great and grow- 
ing industrial development of the State. This development 
has not only resulted in bringing in a considerable emigra- 
tion of foreign labor and skilled labor from Northern States 
but it has also affected materially the negro labor problem. 
The situation has been further complicated by the great 
demand for labor in building cantonments and in develop- 
ing the great shipping plant at Chickasaw, near Mobile. 

These enterprises, together with the demand for labor 
from Northern States, have raised the wages of labor to such 
a point as greatly to affect agricultural work and also, 
through the demand for women's labor, to affect the problem 
of domestic labor. It is impossible to predict at this time 
the outcome but it indicates a permanent change in labor 
conditions and calls for wisdom, patience and statesman- 
ship to meet the changing situation. 

Negro Emigration 
I heard much of negro emigration in Alabama, South 
Carolina and Mississippi, and in different parts of the North. 
It was generally agreed by Southern whites that negro emi- 
gration is undesirable, from the standpoint of both races. 



Social Problems of Alabama 81 

and that it is desirable that the negro should remain on 
Southern soil, which is his natural home, and where he is 
needed, and the same opinion is held by many Northern 
whites and many intelligent negroes ; nevertheless, an unde- 
termined number of negroes, amounting perhaps to as high 
as one hundred and fifty thousand people, have emigrated 
to Northern States from Alabama. 



SOCIAL WORK OF CORPORATIONS 

A number of the industrial corporations of Alabama are 
gradually developing social work for their employees ; some 
of them in a very crude and imperfect way, others with much 
efficiency. Limitations of space forbid the elaborate discus- 
sion of this subject, but I call attention to two instances : 

The Tennessee Coal & Iron Company, with its subsidiary 
shipbuilding company at Chickasaw, near Mobile, are devel- 
oping one of the most complete and efficient social organi- 
zations in the United States, including the Department of 
Social Science, the Department of Health and Sanitation, 
and the Department of Safety. 

The Department of Social Science includes the divisions 
of Welfare, Education, Recreation and Horticulture, each 
with a competent division director. The magnitude of the 
work is indicated by the fact that the Department of Social 
Science employs about two hundred people. 

The company is developing a number of workmen's vil- 
lages at Ensley, Fairfield, Docena, Edgewater, Bayview, and 
Chickasaw. At each of these places there are two villages, 
one for whites and one for blacks. At Ensley and Docena 
the company is reconstructing houses and other buildings 
which were built many years ago. At Fairfield and Chicka- 
saw they are establishing brand new villages. In all of these 
villages the houses vary in size, arrangement and color. For 
the most part they stand on broken ground and on winding 
streets which give a pleasing variety. The houses are well 
built, all of the new ones have running water and interior 
toilets which are being introduced gradually into the old 
houses. They rent at about $3 monthly v^t room. 



TENNESSEE COAL, IRON & RAILROAD COMPANY 

Department of Social Science 



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Social Problems of Alabama 83 

Each village has one or more parks and play grounds, 
a model school building, well built and well lighted, an in- 
structors' home for teachers and social workers, a club house 
for men and a community house for the use of the women 
and children and for social gatherings of men and women. 
Each village has one or more churches, built by the com- 
pany and furnished rent free to the religious organizations, 
and a public bath house equipped with showers and tubs 
and with separate departments for the two sexes. Several 
villages have cottages especially provided for teaching do- 
mestic science to the girls. 

The streets are well laid out and gradually cement curbs 
and cement sidewalks are being laid. 

In the several villages social workers are employed, for 
each of the two races, full time, to promote the social activ- 
ities, and teachers are employed for the public schools, 
whose salaries are paid from the public funds, as far as 
those funds will go, the pay being supplemented by the com- 
pany so as to provide adequate salaries for the full nine 
months term. All of the teachers are either college or nor- 
mal school graduates and all of them hold teachers' certifi- 
cates. The company sends a selected group of teachers each 
year to a summer school. Some go to Chicago University, 
some to Columbia University and some to other schools, at 
the company's expense. 

All of the facilities provided by the company — houses, 
schools, churches, clubs, teachers are of equal quality and 
like cost for the two races. 

This social work is of necessity, paternalistic to a degree, 
at the beginning, because the people are without experience 
or training and their social sense has to be developed. But 
it is the constant effort of the department of social science 
to develop the initiative, independence and self-support of 
the people. They get the church building rent free but are 
expected to pay the preacher, at least in part. The depart- 
ment organized a man's club and financed it for the first 
year. At the end of the year the club had $700.00 in the 
treasury. They were then given the building rent free and 
were thrown upon their own resources under such rules only 
as were necessary to insure the proper care of the property. 



84 Social Problems of Alabama 

The department has great difficulty in persuading the 
tenants to adopt such standards of housekeeping as will cor- 
respond to the class of houses in which they live. This 
difficulty will be gradually overcome by the training of the 
children -in the public schools, the community houses and the 
play grounds; but in the meantime the department is deal- 
ing with the older people with as much wisdom and patience 
as they can command. There is a growing appreciation of 
the opportunities and privileges which are extended and an 
increasing stability of the better class of workmen in those 
villages where they and their children can enjoy these bene- 
fits. 

Dental Clinics 

In 1915 a dental surgeon was employed by the company to 
care for the teeth of the children in the schools, and in 
December, 1916, a dental clinic was established at Fairfield. 
From this beginning have grown up eight dental clinics in 
as many villages. Each village has a carefully selected dent- 
ist employed on a straight salary and supervised by a chief 
dentist and by the superintendent of the health department 
under which this system operates. The dentists work three 
days per week for white patients and three for colored. A 
schedule of charges, on an average, 50 per cent or more 
below the charges made by city dentists is posted in every 
dispensary. An estimate is made in advance, and signed by 
the patient, authorizing a deduction from his monthly pay. 
A dental inspection is maintained in the schools. If defec- 
tive teeth are found, a note is sent to the parents, as follows : 
"The teeth of your child are in need of a dentist's care. The 
Department of Health will furnish the services of a compe- 
tent dentist without charge. If you are willing to have this 
work done, please sign and return to teacher." (Signed by 
the teacher.) 

Regular tooth brush drills have been established. The 
children march to the victrola, form in order, and execute the 
tooth brush drill according to a prescribed and systematic 
method with much enthusiasm. In each- community house 



Social Problems of Alabama 85 

there is a cupboard with glass shelves in which the tooth 
brushes, mugs, and tooth paste are kept. 

The dental clinics and the tooth brush drills are popular 
and are already producing a visible effect upon the health 
and physical condition of children and adults. 

From my study of the Social Science Department of the 
Tennessee Coal and Iron Company, I am convinced that it is 
a sincere and earnest effort to promote the social welfare 
of the workers. The company frankly declares its belief 
that the vast expenditure of money and effort involved will 
result in the advantage of both parties ; but there is evidence 
of a genuine altruistic purpose. I was interested to learn 
that the whole enterprise has the endorsement and co-opera- 
tion of the United States Steel Company to which the Ten- 
nessee Coal and Iron Company is subsidiary. 

I am greatly interested in the persistent efforts of the 
company to minimize paternalism and to promote the highest 
possible degree of democracy among its employees, in devel- 
oping these plants. These efforts are difficult because of 
lack of experience and because of the natural suspicion which 
inevitably arises in connection with such movements; but 
with continued patience, there is good reason to hope that 
this vast experiment will succeed. 

I note eight special signs of promise in this movement: 
first the abandonment by the company of the profitable con- 
vict lease system ; second, the voluntary restriction of child 
labor beyond the limits prescribed by law ; third, the devel- 
opment of the public school system by co-operation with the 
county authorities much beyond what might reasonably be 
expected; fourth, the recognition of the good health of the 
employee as a most valuable asset of the employer ; fifth, the 
high estimate placed upon recreation as a means of pro- 
moting efficiency ; sixth, the practical economy of good hous- 
ing; seventh, the democratic principle that it is better for 
the employee to do things for himself, not quite so well, than 
for the employer to do it for him better ; eighth, that it is for 
the interest of all parties for the company to offer like op- 
portunities to both races and for both races to serve the 
company with equal fidelity. 



86 Social Problems of Alabama 

Social Work of the West Point Manufacturing 

Company 

The West Point Manufacturing Company, at West Point, 
Georgia, is carrying on a large social work for its employees. 
I was unable to visit the plant, but I understand that it is 
similar in its general purposes to the social work of the 
Tennessee Coal & Iron Company, but is more limited in its 
scope and magnitude. The West Point Manufacturing Com- 
pany employs white operatives and therefore makes no pro- 
vision for negro employees. The company maintains public 
schools, kindergartens, day nurseries, industrial schools and 
so on. It has provided auditoriums, lodge buildings, swim- 
ming pools and bath-houses and suitable church buildings. 
It has provided also quarters for war service stations for 
the home service section of the Red Cross, and other war 
activities. It has also furnished ground and stimulated the 
establishment of war gardens. 

Dr. William F. Feagin, of the State Department of Edu- 
cation, reported as follows in 1907 : "The educational policy 
of the West Point Manufacturing Company * * * is so 
distinctive in type that it is well worthy of note * * * at 
each of the villages, the company supplements the county 
school funds and maintains nine months graded schools 
housed in modern buildings and manned by an able corps 
of teachers. The schools are absolutely free to all pupils 
in the elementary grades. This liberality extends to the 
children of the parents of the villages who are not employees 
of the company. * * *" 

"Free kindergartens are maintained at each village * * * 
and adult night schools are taught for the older people 
* * * a feature of the educational program, — far reach- 
ing in its effect, — is the Lyceum course * * * the open- 
ing of community halls three times each week where selected 
pictures of an educational value are shown is another com- 
mendable feature. These entertainments are given at a 
minimum cost, all profit going to the Welfare Fund which 
is used for laudable purposes among the employes. * * *" 

The company carries life insurance on all of its employees, 
the amount ranging from $300 to $500. Every employee 



Social Problems of Alabama 87 

has a life insurance policy for which the company pays a 
premium. The insurance is absolutely free to the employees. 

The same facilities, including life insurance, which are 
provided by the West Point Manufacturing Company, are 
provided also by the Lanett Cotton Mills and the Riverdale 
Cotton Mills, which are separate corporations but are under 
the same management. 

In contemplating the social obligations of the State, Ala- 
bama has two advantages : first, in the fact that while her 
social development is as yet inadequate, it is for the most 
part started in the right direction ; second, in the fact that 
the backwardness of the State in certain lines gives her an 
opportunity to start right from the foundation, unembar- 
rassed by imperfect laws or badly planned institutions. It 
is her privilege to take advantage of the expensive experi- 
ments of other states and do better than any of them. 

This is the day of Alabama's social opportunity. 

In submitting this report I am conscious of the difficulty 
which one must experience in studying the institutions of a 
State with which he is only imperfectly acquainted. My 
suggestions, however, are submitted with the understanding 
that if they shall appear to be practical and to apply to your 
situation you will use them and welcome, but if they do not 
appear to meet the situation you will discard them without 
embarrassment. 

I have taken you at your word when you said : "I have 
invited you to Alabama because I wanted to get the impres- 
sions of an unbiased and unprejudiced man, and I want your 
frank expression, whether your views shall agree with my 
own or not." I appreciate warmly this generous and large- 
minded spirit, and I have endeavored to respond to it. 

Respectfully and sincerely yours, 

Hastings H. Hart. 



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027 292 575 6 



